You Give Love a Bad Name
by Team Damon
Summary: When Summer faces one of the most dreaded events of her adult life - her ten year high school reunion - she's left with no choice but to ask one of her closest friends to be her date for the event and pretend to be her boyfriend. She's pretty sure it's one of the worst ideas in the history of the world, but desperate times call for desperate measures. AU, Bucky/OC
1. Chapter 1

_14 years ago_

"What's up, Four-Eyes?"

Keeping her head down and sighing, 14-year-old and semi-freakishly tall Summer ignored the unoriginal words of her lovely school peers and made a beeline for the only empty table at the cafeteria. She could hear the culprits - two idiot juniors, guys who thought they were cuter than they actually were - cackling at her expense as she ignored them, but she reminded herself that she was better than they were and that they could only get to her if she let them.

Unfortunately, most of the time, she did.

Before she could successfully hide at the empty table in the corner, the two idiots jogged over and poked her in the shoulder. Idiot 1, Caleb, stole her pudding cup off of her tray while Idiot 2, Joey, asked her with an exaggerated smile, "Wanna come sit with us, Funbags? We'll let you, as long as you put a bag over your head first."

She rolled her eyes and pushed past them, cheeks flaring up in a blush that she really wished would just go away, but no such luck. She wished that her older brother was around and not off in college 3,000 miles away, because he would have dislocated Joey's arm for calling her "Funbags".

Now one pudding cup lighter and her stomach tied in knots now thanks to the boys' antics, Summer finally made it to the empty table and sat as close to the wall as she could manage, keeping her head down and pushing her square-frame glasses up the bridge of her nose. She eyed her food with disinterest and sighed, wondering how much crying and fit-throwing it would take to convince her grandma to let her do homeschooling instead. Probably more than even she could reasonably keep up.

She had managed two bites of the mildly cold corn dog she'd grabbed for lunch when she looked up and saw something, or rather someone, that caught her eye. It was the new girl, Emily, she thought, or maybe it was Emma - Amy? Whatever her name was, the girl was standing there with her own tray, face somewhat hidden under the mess of hair on her head, looking around the tables with a look of quiet panic in her eyes that Summer could relate to all too well.

Nobody was gonna offer the girl a place to sit. She was already getting weird looks, and it was only a matter of time before Idiots 1 and 2 took notice and made the situation much worse.

So Summer took a chance and started waving in the new girl's direction. It took a few seconds, but when she finally looked Summer's way, Summer then gestured almost frantically for her to come and sit down with her. The girl blinked a few times but wasted no time in hurrying over, visibly relieved to have possibly found someone nice in the midst of a sea of jerks.

"Hi," Summer greeted the girl quietly as she sat down across from her. She gave her a smile, noticing the way the girl's hands were shaking a little as she set down the tray but not staring. "I'm Summer."

"Hello," the girl replied softly, with a distinctly English accent. "I'm Aemilia. Thank you for... doing that. And letting me sit with you."

Summer smiled again. "Yeah, you're welcome. This your first day?"

"Third," Aemilia sighed, brushing some of her wild auburn curls behind her ear. They weren't the refined sort of curls either, more frizz than anything else, which was in stark contrast to Summer's hopelessly limp black hair. "I've just been trying to just sort of... blend in."

"You mean hide," Summer replied. "I do that too. Every day. People here are jerks."

"They call me Queen Elizabeth," Aemilia frowned, her bright turquoise braces glimmering in the light as she spoke. "And say I smell like fish. I guess because they all assume I survive off fish and chips."

Summer sighed. Their schoolmates certainly weren't the best nor the brightest when it came to insults. "Well, you don't smell like fish to me."

Aemilia smiled and chuckled. "Good. Honestly, I don't even like fish."

"Make sure you bring your own lunch on fish sticks day, then," Summer helpfully supplied, laughing quietly when the other girl made a gross-out face.

After another moment or two, Aemilia tilted her head and asked curiously, "Why are _you_ sitting here all alone?"

"Oh," Summer half-stuttered, "I'm... well... I, uh... nobody really... likes me, so..."

"Why not?" Aemilia furrowed her brows.

"Well," Summer sighed, "you can't tell right now 'cause I'm sitting down, but I'm 5'8 -"

Aemilia's eyes widened. " _Whoa_."

Summer cringed. "Yeah, I'm taller than like all the girls in my grade, and I've got these stupid glasses, and... uh..."

"What?"

Summer swallowed her pride and decided to just blurt it out. "I've got gigantic D-cups already. They all call me Funbags."

Aemilia glanced down at Summer's chest in confusion. " _Really_? But..."

"You can't tell because I'm wearing like three layers," Summer shrugged, gesturing to her blue and black flannel shirt and shapeless black t-shirt she had on beneath it. The flannel was actually her brother's old shirt, and it quite swallowed her up, but that was the point. "My first day I wore this sweater that I didn't realize was kind of... see through... and..."

"Oh no," Aemilia frowned, genuinely aghast for the other girl.

"Yep. And now I'm Funbags," Summer muttered. "I didn't even have these stupid things last year. I went from an A-cup to freaking Boobs McGee in three months."

Aemilia sighed. "I would take them from you if I could. I'm still waiting for most of the stuff that's supposed to come with puberty. But at least you don't have a weird accent."

Summer furrowed her brows and said, "Your accent's cool! You sound like you walked out of like... Harry Potter or something."

Aemilia's eyes then lit up at the mere mention of those last two words. "You like Harry Potter?"

"No," Summer gaped, "I _love_ Harry Potter. I read all the books in a week."

"Me too!" Aemilia beamed. "Oh my gosh. Who's your favorite character?"

"Snape, hands down," Summer replied without hesitation. "He's just... he killed me. What about you?"

"Hmm, gosh," Aemilia said, pondering this most important question very seriously. "Probably Harry, honestly. Or Sirius."

"I cried when he died," Summer admitted. "Movie and book both."

"So did I," Aemilia replied. "Poor Harry finally had a piece of his family back for all of five minutes before he had to watch Sirius die."

"I know," Summer groaned sadly. "It's horrible. You know what else is horrible? Ron and Hermione being together."

Aemilia cringed. "They don't match at all! It's incredibly awkward."

"What would they even talk about?" Summer wondered aloud. "They have like nothing in common. It just doesn't work. Plus Ron looks like my brother, and that automatically makes him disgusting to me."

"You have a brother?" Aemilia asked with a smile, both girls eating bites of their food between words now that they weren't feeling quite so anxious or alone anymore. "I wish I had siblings, but I'm an only child."

"Oh, really? Well, my brother's 8 years older than me," Summer shrugged, "so he's away at college in California. And yeah, he looks like a Weasley."

"How?" Aemilia giggled. "You don't look at all like that yourself."

"Well, we're half Irish and half Jewish," Summer shrugged. "He got all the Irish genes and I got all the Jewish ones. He looks like my dad and I look like my mom."

"Oh," Aemilia smiled, quite toothy and noticeably so with her bright colored braces. "So your parents are still together?"

Summer paused, suddenly wishing she hadn't said anything, but she forced herself to answer the girl anyway. "No, they, um... they died last year in a car accident."

Pure horror replaced the curiosity on Aemilia's face, and she dropped the food in her hand back to her tray as she said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's okay, you had no way of knowing," Summer shrugged. "But yeah, that's... that's why I'm here. We lived in Virginia but my grandma lives up here in New York, so when I moved in with her I had to change schools." When she saw the still-embarrassed look on Aemilia's face, sympathetic but clearly feeling awful for bringing it up, Summer decided to try to steer the conversation elsewhere by asking, "Where'd you move from?"

"London," Aemilia replied quickly. "I grew up there. I really liked my school there, but my parents got divorced when I was ten and my mother met this American man and they got engaged, so... she moved us here."

"Yikes," Summer cringed. "Is he nice, at least? The guy?"

Aemilia shrugged. "Sort of just ignores me whenever I see him, really. He seems nice enough, but I think it's his money my mum likes."

"Oh," Summer nodded. "Dang. Well, I -" She glanced to her right and suddenly shut up, face turning red immediately and casting her eyes down, hair falling into her face and shielding it from the person she was suddenly hiding from.

Aemilia blinked. "Are you all right?"

Summer shook her head and gestured strangely with her hand, and Aemilia took it to mean _shut up_ , so she did. When Summer peeked to her right again and found the coast clear, she sighed and straightened up again, letting out a relieved sigh.

"... What was that?" Aemilia asked, still not getting it.

"That was _Jake_ ," Summer whispered. "He's..."

"Mean?" Aemilia guessed. "A bully?"

"No, I've got a giant crush on him," Summer admitted, whispering those damning words. "He's at the table over there with his girlfriend, the blonde stick, and he's got dark hair and blue eyes and..."

Aemilia located the correct boy and quickly looked away, to avoid being obvious in her gawking. " _Oh_ , I see. He's cute."

"He's _beautiful_ ," Summer groaned wistfully. "Seriously. He plays guitar and _sings_ and he's just absolutely perfect."

Aemilia giggled and then asked, "Have you ever talked to him?"

"Oh _God_ no!" Summer half-gasped, scandalized. "I hide whenever I see him."

"Why? What if he liked you more than the, ah... blonde stick?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "I'm a freshman, and I'm too skinny and too tall and I've got these stupid glasses and like five zits on my chin alone. Nobody likes me."

"Well, _I_ like you," Aemilia replied. "Of all the people in this school, you're the nicest one I've met so far. Yesterday I ate in the _bathroom_."

Summer made a horrified face. "Oh, God!"

Aemilia cringed right back. "It was... disgusting. But my point is, I don't see what isn't to like about you."

Summer paused. "... Everything?"

Aemilia rolled her eyes, sighed and said, "Well, at least you don't have braces. And you might be tall, but I'm too short to fit properly into clothes made for girls our age, so everything looks weird. And my _hair_ -"

"Your hair is _awesome_ ," Summer interrupted with wide eyes. "A little... frizzy, but the color is awesome."

"It's impossible," Aemilia shook her head. "Nothing I do to it calms it down. My mum bought me every anti-frizz product on the planet but when I walk outside and it's humid, it explodes. Like this," she plucked at a strand. "It's ridiculous."

"It's still awesome," Summer shrugged. "Better than my hair. My hair is just flat and dead. Still looks greasy even right after I wash it."

Aemilia eyed Summer's long black hair, currently piled into an admittedly limp ponytail, and she mused, "Perhaps if you teased it a bit... or curled it at the root. My mum has all kinds of tricks for hair. You should come over one day, and we can play with all her hair stuff."

Summer found herself genuinely smiling for the first time all day. "Really? That would be awesome! When?"

"Well, I have voice lessons after school today, but -"

"You do?!" Summer gaped. "Wait, you're a singer?"

Aemilia smiled shyly. "Well, I would _like_ to be. I've been singing since I was little, and I really, _really_ love it. My voice coach - well, my old one in London - said that I have one of the best voices of all her students, so..."

"Oh my gosh," Summer grinned excitedly, "you gotta let me hear you sing one of these days. That's awesome! I wanted to be a singer when I was little, actually, like it was my dream, but... when I sing, I sound kind of like a dying cat crossed with... you know that sound a fork makes when you scrape it on a plate the wrong way?"

Aemilia laughed. "I doubt you're _that_ bad."

"No, I'm pretty bad," Summer shrugged. "But it's okay. I've accepted it. Now I wanna be a writer."

"Ooh! I like writing too," Aemilia smiled. "What do you want to write?"

"Well, I'm not really sure yet, I do kind of... already write... something, but it's not really..."

The bell ringing and announcing the end of lunch and the resuming of class cut Summer's words short. The girls both smiled and, as they stood up to begin gathering their things and tossing what food they hadn't eaten, Summer asked, "See you here tomorrow, same table?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Aemilia smiled, and Summer was starting to find that toothy, partially turquoise smile of hers to be kind of adorable. "Thank you again. For being nice to me."

Summer beamed and replied, "No, I should be thanking you for that. I'm not used to it at all."

"Well," Aemilia sighed, "at least now I can tell my mum later that I made a friend. And I mean it about coming over and playing her hair stuff."

"Oh, just name the time and I'll be there," Summer smiled.

Then the girls said their quiet goodbyes, and they both headed to their next classes feeling considerably better than they had all day. They felt a little less alone now that they had someone they could relate to a little bit, and they both hoped against hope that they really would end up being good friends.

They had no idea how right they truly were.

* * *

Fourteen blindingly fast years later, Summer and Aemilia were the best of friends and were still living in New York, chasing their dreams and accomplishing them in ways that their fourteen year old selves probably never would have believed were possible.

They had gone to college together and been by each other's sides through it all, through the parties and the boys they liked and the horrifying prospect of actually finding a job once they had earned their degrees. Aemilia stuck to singing and Summer pursued journalism, and by the sheer strength of their commitment to their passions, they found their places in the world doing what they loved.

When Summer graduated high school, she never looked back. She left that godforsaken place and all of its bullies behind, pretending that all of their name calling and verbal abuse never bothered her anyway, and she learned how to be okay with being herself. She was a dork at heart - and so was Aemilia - and she even eventually stopped wearing unflattering clothes and trying to hide her body. She got through college in one piece, finding the experience much more exhausting but generally much better than high school, and then she was lucky enough to land a job through an internship soon after that was pretty damn close to being a dream job.

Put simply, high school was the last thing Summer ever thought about, and it was also one of the last things she ever _wanted_ to think about. And that was why she panicked at the age of 28, in front of the mailbox downstairs in her apartment building, staring at the single most threatening piece of mail she'd ever seen in her life.

Clutching the hideously offensive thing in her hand, she rushed out of the building, hailed a cab, and got to Aemilia's Manhattan apartment as quickly as she could manage. Panic of this nature could not be stifled with a simple phone call. She needed to see the woman in person in order to satisfactorily lose her mind and flail until she fainted.

Once she arrived, she knocked on the door of her friend's ridiculously expensive two-bedroom apartment and impatiently waited for her to answer. Two more knocks later, the door finally opened, and a slightly disheveled and silk-robe clad Aemilia answered the door, smoothing down her frizz-free curls with one hand as she poked her head through the opening in the door.

"Oh, Summer," she smiled, surprised. "I thought you were the pizza guy."

Summer began to open her mouth and word-vomit her reason for coming, but then she looked her friend over and said, "Please don't tell me I interrupted you having sex."

Aemilia blushed. "Well, I -"

Suddenly the door was pushed fully open, thanks to the gloriously shirtless, incredibly tall and disgustingly handsome man now standing just behind Aemilia. "Don't worry, darling," he told Summer, who really tried her best not to ogle him, but she was only human and he was... _well_. "If we _had_ been having sex, I wouldn't have let her out of bed to answer the door in the first place, even for you."

"Oh... right. Well... super," Summer smiled, giving him the thumbs up with both hands like a moron.

He simply chuckled with amusement and then turned to Aemilia, placing a small kiss on her forehead before telling her he was going to take a shower. Then he was off, giving Summer another smile, and she sighed as he walked away.

"He just gets prettier and prettier every time I see him," Summer muttered once he had left her line of sight.

"He truly does," Aemilia agreed. "Loki is... inhumanly... incredible." Then both women stood there and mutually exhaled in deep appreciation for the man, before Aemilia caught herself and said, "I'm sorry. What's up?"

Summer shook her head a little, suddenly remembering the crisis of apocalyptic proportions that has propelled her here in the middle of an otherwise peaceful afternoon. "Something horrible," she replied. "That's what's up."

Aemilia furrowed her brows and stepped aside for Summer to enter, concern coloring her tone as she asked, "Oh no, what's wrong?"

"Everything," Summer muttered miserably. Aemilia closed the door and then Summer shoved the piece of mail in her hands, grimly saying, "See for yourself."

Expecting something truly horrible, Aemilia quickly pulled the letter from the envelope and scanned her eyes over it. Once she understood what Summer was panicking about, she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Summer, I thought something _actually_ bad had happened."

"It has!" Summer exclaimed with wide eyes. "Did you read it?"

"Yes," Aemilia said, handing the letter back to Summer. "It's an invitation to our ten year high school reunion."

Summer's eyes widened dramatically. " _Exactly_." When Aemilia merely raised her eyebrows in slight exasperation, Summer half-wailed, "How are you not getting this?"

"Oh, I get it," she said, gesturing for Summer to follow her into the kitchen. Summer glanced into the living room on the way, unsurprised to see clothes strewn about the couch and the floor. Like rabbits, Loki and Aemilia were. "High school was hell on earth for us, and the idea of a reunion is about as appealing as taking a leisurely stroll on the surface of the sun. Barefoot."

"Exactly!" Summer exclaimed, leaning against the kitchen counter as Aemilia filled her tea kettle with water from the sink. "So how are you so calm?"

"Well, I knew this would happen eventually," she explained, putting the kettle on the stove. "And honestly," she turned to face Summer, "maybe going isn't such a bad idea."

"Oh no," Summer shook her head and crossed her arms. "Uh-uh. I am _not_ going."

"But Summer -"

"Nope!" Summer shook her head again. "Absolutely not."

Aemilia sighed. "But think about it! Look how far we've come since then, both of us. You're a writer for the _New York Times_ , Summer. You're brilliant and you're a successful, independent, beautiful woman. Those people gave you hell for four years, and this is your chance to give it back to them."

Summer hesitated, wanting to agree with Aemilia, but... "I don't know. I mean, that works for you because look at you - you're an amazing singer with a jazz career that's blowing up, and you're engaged to Loki who just so happens to own a freaking record label, and you're this gorgeous power couple, and I'm... just..."

"... Single?"

Summer blinked slowly and murmured, "Perpetually."

"... But so what? Yes, you haven't had a lot of time to date in the last few years, but who cares?" Aemilia asked.

"I care," Summer argued, "because the thought of walking into that place with all of those people when most of them are probably married with _babies_... it'll just be hell all over again."

Aemilia sighed, eyes softening as she looked at her friend a bit sadly. "Look, I won't push it because I understand where you're coming from. And I would never tell you to do something that you truly don't want to do. But... you've accomplished so much already, Summer. I am enormously proud of you and all that you've done, and I think that going there together and showing them all how far we've both come would be the best revenge possible."

Aemilia was very persuasive, that was for sure. But Summer just couldn't wrap her head around the idea. "You're probably right, but... still. I'd basically be the third wheel with you and Loki, and -"

"No you wouldn't! Not at all, Summer."

"Okay, but still, I just can't show up there single. I can't." And that, as far as Summer was concerned, was the end of it. "I can't show up and still be the pathetic girl that nobody wants."

Tea kettle whistling, Aemilia pursed her lips and sighed a bit sadly before turning and tending to the tea. Summer idled as her friend fixed her a very proper English cup of tea, and when it was done and Aemilia handed it to her, she said, "For the record, you're not single because nobody wants you. There's quite a difference between being too busy to focus on dating and being unwanted."

Summer shrugged, sipping the hot tea. "You know I still like iced tea better than this stuff, right?"

Aemilia rolled her eyes. " _Iced tea_. An oxymoron if there ever was one, because tea should never be iced _or_ cold."

"You know," Summer grinned, "next year, you'll have been here in America longer than you were in England. May as well embrace being American and our lovely iced tea."

"I will _never_ be that American," Aemilia replied, but now she was smiling along with her friend. Then she sighed and said, "See, it just won't be the same if I go without you. You made high school bearable for me. It was always us against them. I don't think I want to go if you don't come."

"Oh, gosh, _no_ ," Summer frowned. "If you want to go, go. You totally should. All the girls are gonna be incredibly jealous of you. You should have your revenge."

"But so should you," Aemilia replied.

Summer paused, looking down at her tea and shrugging before cracking a joke. "Well, maybe I can Google and see if there's any Rent-A-Boyfriend services in New York."

Aemilia had been in the midst of drinking her own tea when her eyes suddenly grew big and she swallowed the liquid with an unusually loud gulp. "Oh my goodness. I have an idea."

Summer looked at her friend with alarm. This couldn't be good. "What?"

"Bucky!" Aemilia exclaimed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You can take him!"

At the mention of her _other_ best friend's name, Summer felt oddly as if she had been punched in the heart. "... I'm not following," she said, playing dumb. "Are you saying I should... ask him out, because -"

"No, no," Aemilia shook her head. "What I'm saying is, if not showing up single is going to be the make or break thing for you, then why not ask him to be your pretend boyfriend for a day?"

If it was even possible, Summer's eyes became even bigger. She was speechless, heart suddenly pounding in her chest and cheeks heating up with an embarrassingly bright blush, and after a few moments of gaping and stuttering a few false starts, Summer muttered, "... That is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life."

Aemilia's smile faded in an instant. "What? Why?"

Summer stared at her in disbelief. "Are you really asking me that?"

Sighing for the thousandth time that afternoon, Aemilia set down her tea and said, "It's the perfect solution. And I have no doubt that he'd be more than willing to do it."

Summer groaned and covered her face with her hands, turning and wailing, "You can't be serious. This isn't happening. I'm gonna wake up and this is all gonna be a bad dream."

Aemilia chuckled. "So overdramatic."

"Yeah!" Summer said, dropping her hands and shooting Aemilia a half-hearted glare. "Because you know better than anyone how I feel about him. I can't... the idea of pretending when I'm..."

"Relax," Aemilia said gently. "Just think about it, all right? No pressure. And yes, I know how you feel about him, but... just think of it this way - maybe he would find that he enjoys pretending to be your boyfriend, enough to finally ask you out properly. Maybe it would all work out in your favor."

Summer rolled her eyes. "The fact that in two and a half years he's hit on literally every woman I know except for me - including you - I'm gonna have to call BS."

"Yes, because he couldn't possibly be in the same boat as you, afraid to lose a very special friend and unwilling to do anything to risk that happening."

Summer shrugged again. "It's not that. It's a lot more simple. No guy that I want ever wants me back. It was true when I was 16 and it's still true now."

"Summer..."

Summer held up her hands, not wanting to hear anymore. "No, it's fine. Really, it's fine. It is what it is. I should head back home and get out of your hair, actually."

Aemilia frowned. "You're not in my hair at all."

"Well, I will be soon if I don't shut up," Summer shrugged one shoulder. "I know I'm being annoying right now, so just... ignore me."

"I would never do that," Aemilia said gently, walking to her best friend and pulling her into a warm, firm hug. After, she held Summer's shoulders and said, "Think about what I said, all right? I still think that you should go to the reunion, that we _both_ should, because we've earned it after everything we went through together."

Summer nodded, completely understanding. "Yeah. I just... I don't know if I could even handle the whole pretend boyfriend thing."

"Then don't ask him," Aemilia said. "But I think you can. I also think that it would be a very enlightening experience for you both."

Summer raised an eyebrow. "... Your matchmaker side is coming out right now, isn't it?"

Aemilia smirked a bit devilishly. "Maybe. By the way, my album release party is next Friday, and -"

Summer's eyes widened. "It is?!"

"Yes," Aemilia smiled brightly, "and you and Bucky are of course invited. Loki said he would text him but in case he forgets - he's so busy - feel free to pass the message to him for me."

"I will," Summer smiled. "Wow! This is exciting! And the song's still number one, right?"

"Third straight week," Aemilia smiled proudly. Honestly, I keep having to pinch myself every day."

"I'm not shocked at all," Summer smiled. "I always knew you'd be a star. And then one day I'd get to brag about how I knew you before you were famous."

Aemilia rolled her eyes affectionately and hugged Summer again, a few more moments of chatting passing by before Summer decided that she really needed to go ahead and leave. They bade each other farewell and, when Loki emerged from the bedroom dressed in a fine dark blue suit with his black hair combed back elegantly on his head, Summer nearly walked into the wall on her way out. He grinned and told her goodbye, and she waved back clumsily before finally making her way out the door.

She suddenly had a lot to think about.

She grabbed a late lunch on her way home, eating it on her couch in her apartment with her laptop open in front of her. She ate and scrolled through her email aimlessly, trying to distract herself and failing. All she could think about was the reunion and the idea of somehow convincing Bucky to come along and pretend to be her hot boyfriend for the night, allowing her to rub her success and general awesomeness in the faces of her former bullies.

It was tempting. It was _beyond_ tempting, actually. But _God_ , she just didn't know if she could do it. Not with how she felt about him.

She had met Bucky a few years before, during the writing of one of her first major pieces for the _Times_. It was an article about the social stigma and misunderstandings regarding post traumatic stress disorder, particularly of cases involving military veterans. She arranged an interview with a psychologist who worked at the VA in New York, and though she walked into the office expecting an older, grayer fellow, she instead found Dr. James Barnes, or _Bucky_ as he insisted on her calling him.

He was young, dark haired, blue eyed, and he showed up five minutes late to the interview in a leather jacket and with windswept hair courtesy of the motorcycle he'd arrived on. He was also a former Army Sergeant who had served two tours overseas before completing his degree in psychology and devoting his career to helping people who had experienced the same trauma that he had.

It was a wonder that she didn't spend the entire interview drooling. It was a good thing, too, because when he mentioned at one point that he was engaged, she had mentally deflated like a poked balloon.

Still, they became fast friends, to her surprise. After her article was published, he emailed her and thanked her for her portrayal of the issue and for not editing or misrepresenting his words, and when her reply back led to another from him and another from her until they were legitimately chatting rather than talking about the article anymore, it took them both by surprise. They simply got along effortlessly from the start, and it was great - she always had room for more friends.

At first it was very casual, and they would speak intermittently. She was busy and so was he, after all. A few months passed, and then he invited her - via email again - to his engagement party. She accepted, and that was the day she met his fiancée.

The woman was named Vivian, and she was stunning. She looked like a classic Hollywood movie star to Summer with her vibrant red curls and green eyes, and the way that she charmed everyone in the room like it was effortless. She was everything Summer wished that she could be, and she and Bucky made one of the most gorgeous couples that Summer had ever seen. She was deeply envious in the purest of ways.

But they hadn't lasted. They broke up only a month later, for reasons that Bucky entirely blamed himself for. It was following the breakup and his brief but hardcore spiral into somewhat debilitating depression that he and Summer grew closer and became the sort of friends that were just inseparable.

She dragged him out to mini-golf and laser tag, haunted houses during Halloween and snowball fights during the winter, all things that Bucky hadn't done in years and made them both feel like kids again. They had a blast together no matter where they went or what they did, and she helped him pick the pieces back up following that difficult breakup.

She also, naturally, fell head over heels in love with him in the process, but Aemilia was the only person in the world who knew that. And Summer planned to keep it that way.

She and Bucky still hung out every week, sometimes getting drinks, catching a movie, or doing whatever else caught their fancy that particular day. He was such a huge part of her life now that she couldn't imagine it without him, and that was why she guarded her secret so closely. She knew he didn't think of her the way that she thought about him, and she could live with that so long as she got to still have him in her life the way that she did.

And that was why asking him to pretend to be her boyfriend for the high school reunion was inherently dangerous. Pretending to be a couple meant holding hands, showing affection, and who even knew what else, and that _terrified_ her. She already had a hard enough time keeping her feelings bottled up and secret from him - how was she supposed to do that and pretend to be his girlfriend at the same time?

But... every point that Aemilia had made had been spot on. They had both endured such misery and grief at the hands of their high school tormentors - the girls had been even worse than the boys - and the idea of walking into the reunion in her best dress, black hair styled to perfection and no longer the limp mess it had been back then, her body now mostly proportionate and eyes fixed thanks to corrective laser surgery, _and_ boasting the hottest arm candy that a girl could ask for...

She groaned and closed her laptop, food forgotten and mind unable to focus on a damn thing else. She grabbed her phone and pulled up her text thread with Bucky, still entirely sure that this was a horrible idea that was going to blow up in her face, but... well, maybe she'd get lucky and he would say no and spare her.

Probably not, though. She knew him very well by now, and she knew that this was just the kind of thing that he would probably be all over and have a blast with.

 _Dinner tonight?_ she asked, hitting the send button before she could chicken out. She only had to wait a few minutes before his reply came through.

 _Anything for you, doll. Where?_

She groaned at his choice of words and answered, _Your turn to pick. Just no pizza_.

 _Dammit_ , he replied playfully. _Fine. Pick you up at 7?_

 _As long as you're picking me up in a cab and not that deathtrap you own_ , she replied, grinning to herself. As much as she loved the sight of Bucky riding his beloved motorcycle, she didn't have the guts to ever let him convince her to climb on the back of it and let him take her for a ride. And he had asked before. _A lot_.

 _Pansy_ , came his reply.

 _Psycho_ , came hers. He then sent her a slew of crazy-faced emojis, and she laughed to the point of snorting quite unattractively.

She'd pop the question over dinner, if she kept her nerve up. In the meantime, she decided to go ahead and get ready for their dinner and try not to vomit in the process.

She was doomed.

* * *

A few hours later, Summer was in the ladies' room of the restaurant that Bucky had picked - one of her favorites, which was what always seemed to happen whenever she asked him to choose - and she had just washed her hands and officially run out of excuses to continue to stall. She took a deep breath and eyed her reflection in the mirror - pretty good tonight, in her opinion, mainly because she always took extra time to look her best when she knew she was going to be around Bucky, not that she'd admit it - and then told herself to grow up and get back to their table.

After another deep breath, that was what she did. They'd only arrived maybe ten minutes earlier, and it was way too early to be hiding in the bathroom already, especially when she hadn't even asked him her question yet.

 _Ugh. The damn question_.

After she left the bathroom and weaved her way back to their table, she was greeted by an unsurprising sight. Bucky sitting there, charming grin on his unfairly handsome face as he spoke to their waitress who was prettier than Summer wanted to admit and currently leaning over _just_ far enough to give Bucky a peek down her shirt if he wanted it. She was smiling and giggling at something he said, and Summer was caught between the urge to stab out the waitress' eyes with a fork or just turn around and leave so she could wallow at home in peace.

But she did neither of those things. Instead she went back to her seat and sat down, plastering a smile on her face when Bucky looked up at her and ceased his conversation with the overly flirtatious waitress. "Hey."

"Hi again," she smiled, glancing at the waitress and getting a small bit of satisfaction from the way that her smile shrank a bit. She told Bucky to let her know if they needed anything else and then headed off, and the whole time, Bucky hadn't taken his eyes off of Summer once.

That was the nice thing about him. He was a flirt down to his core, but when he was with Summer he was with _her_. She always had his full attention, especially when it was just the two of them. He wasn't a jerk.

Mostly.

"So," she said with a deep breath, grabbing the glass of white wine that had been placed on her side of the table while she'd been quietly panicking in the bathroom, "how was work today?"

He shrugged, hand reaching up and pushing one side of his shoulder-length hair back behind his ears. "Same as usual. I'm pretty tired, though. Think I'm getting old."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

"No, it's true," he said, looking very much not like an old man in his utterly uncalled for ensemble of black leather jacket, black shirt underneath, and just in case there wasn't enough black, black pants as well. Coupled with his long hair being down, Summer would have been more than happy to have _him_ for dinner, right there in the middle of the restaurant. "I almost took a nap in my office today between appointments. I don't think I've taken a nap since kindergarten."

"Naps are great," she said, setting down her wine after taking a few big gulps. "You should take as many as you can. I love naps."

"I know," he grinned. "You took a nap on my couch that one time for three hours."

"... You have a very comfortable couch," she shrugged. Plus he had laid a blanket on her at some point while she had been sleeping, and it had smelled like him and... yeah, it was a good nap, as naps go.

"Mhm. So," he said, leaning a bit more across the table with his arms crossed in front of him, "what's got you all antsy?"

She froze like a deer in headlights. "I'm not antsy."

"Summer," he said evenly, "I think I know you well enough by now that I can tell when you're panicking inside. What's going on?"

She sighed and gulped at the same time, which felt rather odd, but she knew there was no escaping her fate now. Better to just push on and get it over with. "Okay, so... I got an invitation to my ten year high school reunion today."

His eyebrows shot up. "Oh."

"Yeah, and I've told you how bad high school was for me before, right?"

"... I remember you saying they called you Funbags."

She rolled her eyes and he laughed. "Of course you'd remember the part about boobs."

"Look, you know my memory's not the best," he chuckled, grinning in a way that made her want to smack him. "The highlights are what stands out."

"I know, I know," she nodded, unable to hold it against him. He actually _did_ have a very valid excuse for not remembering things as well as most people. "Well, anyway, high school was hell. I was too tall, too skinny, my boobs were too big, my butt was so small it was basically inverted, my hair looked like I melted a stick of butter on top of it every day, and on top of all of that, I was even more awkward than I am now."

"I have a hard time believing you're not exaggerating at least some of that. You tend to be way too hard on yourself."

"No," she shook her head. "It was bad. And I had this crush on this guy, and everyone knew it because every time he walked past me or said hi I'd turn into a tomato and hide. I'm not even kidding. I was a mess. And now I'm supposed to go back and deal with these people _again_."

"I say go for it," Bucky said, leaning back in his seat. "Show 'em how badass you turned out. Make them regret every day they spent giving you shit."

"... That's what Aemilia said, and yeah, in theory, I agree," Summer said, fingers starting to fidget as she got closer to the point. "But the thing is... look, none of the boys in school ever wanted to date me. Except this kid named Ralphie who was super into Dungeons and Dragons, but the point is, I was a loser, okay, and the walking poster child for the Forever Alone meme. And I still am, because yeah," she pointed to herself and made a face. "Still alone."

Bucky's expression softened. "You're not forever alone. You just... haven't found the right guy yet." His jaw worked a little after those last few words, but Summer was too busy staring at her hands to see it.

"Well... either way," she looked back up, "I can't walk into that place alone. I refuse. But Aemilia wants to go, and she won't go without me, so..."

She let her words hang there in the air, hoping that Bucky would connect the dots so she wouldn't have to spell it out, but when his blank stare met hers, she knew she wasn't gonna get that lucky.

She took a deep breath. "So... um... I was wondering if... maybe... you could, uh..." _Dammit, just spit it out, idiot_. "Maybe you could go with me and pretend to be my boyfriend?"

At that exact moment, as Bucky froze with surprise and Summer wished she could rewind and start all over, the overly flirtatious waitress came back with their food. She placed Bucky's plate down in front of him and tossed a smile his way that he didn't even notice. Summer thanked her on his behalf, and after the waitress walked away with a slightly sour look on her face, Bucky blinked and snapped out of his brief daze.

"... You want me to be your fake date for your high school reunion," he said, as if he didn't quite believe it.

She nodded, feeling like her heart was in her throat and slowly choking her to death. "Yeah. But you don't have to, of course. If you don't want to that's totally fine, 'cause I know it might be weird for you - for us - but -"

He shook his head and gently interrupted her moment of pure word vomit. "No, no, it's okay. I'll do it."

She paused and looked at him in shock. "... You will?"

He smiled affectionately at her bewildered expression. "Course I will. Did you really think I'd say no?"

Summer paused, cheeks burning a little with embarrassment and something else she wouldn't cop to. "No. I don't know. I mean... I would have understood if you had, but..."

He shook his head, reaching for the bundle of silverware next to his plate and unwrapping it. "Nah, I'm happy to do it. And I understand where you're coming from. I mean, for what it's worth," he glanced up at her, "I don't think for a minute that you _need_ to show up there with a guy on your arm. You're amazing on your own and I don't want you to doubt that for a minute. But... I get it. And I'll help however I can."

She let out a long, deep breath that she felt as if she had been holding all day, and she smiled a bit more dreamily than she intended as she said, "God, you're amazing."

He grinned around the mouthful of food he was chewing on, swallowing and replying, "Glad you think so. So when is this thing?"

"A month from now, about an hour and a half away from here. So it'll be like the world's shortest road trip."

"Road trips are fun," he noted. "You said Aemilia's going too?"

"Yep. Her and Loki are gonna walk in and literally kill everyone. That's another reason why I can't go alone. I'd be the freaking third wheel from hell."

"See," Bucky shook his head, "that's the wrong angle. Think of it like a man would. Sure, you're alone, but that's only because you're having too much fun hooking up with someone new every other weekend and you just don't _wanna_ get tied down."

Summer made a face. "Except... I don't really _hook up_ like that... ever."

"How long _has_ it been?" Bucky asked, purely out of curiosity. "Was it that one guy, Andy... Anthony... uh... Anderson..."

Summer smiled and corrected him, "Ian."

"Ian!" Bucky grinned, pointing at her. "I was close."

"Not really. And that was eight months ago. It was literally two dates, and he was like the worst kisser in the history of mankind."

"Did you even sleep with him?" Bucky squinted.

"God, no. He had hamburger tongue. Like it literally felt like a Whopper Jr poking into my mouth."

Bucky almost choked on his sip of water, then laughed at her description. "That's horrible. I'm sorry. So wait... when was the last time you actually had sex?"

Face going up in flames, Summer pretended to be offended by the question. " _My God_ , Bucky, why does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I'm just curious."

" _Why_?!"

"Because you're my friend, and I care about you. I'd ask Steve the same thing, but he's married now and I don't really want to know how often him and Peggy do it."

Summer sighed, gaze drifting off as she thought about Bucky's other best friend and his unbelievably hot, badass wife, and she muttered, "If only they'd invite me over for a threesome one of these days."

Bucky groaned and raked a hand through his hair. "Man, I can't think of them like that. On the other hand though, if Aemilia ever wanted an extra set of hands and Loki was okay with it -"

Now it was Summer's turn to choke on her drink. "Oh God, stop! You can't put visuals like that in my head! You know I always imagine everything the minute I hear it!"

"You didn't let me finish," Bucky said, face full of glee. "I wasn't talking about me, I was talking about _you_. You're the one who needs some action."

Summer buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God. You know," she forced her hands to go back down to her lap but she avoided looking him in the eye, "for some reason, I don't think they'd be okay with that."

Bucky made a scoffing sound. "Why not? I've never met a guy who didn't want to watch two beautiful women make out, and you're her best friend, so you'd be the logical first choice as far as who she'd be comfortable with."

Summer blinked. "... How did the conversation even end up here?"

Ignoring her, Bucky went on, "And Loki, he's got those really long piano-playing fingers. I'm sure he's pretty good with them."

"Okay," Summer gulped, pointing across the table at Bucky's smug face, "you need to _stop_. I'm gonna scream."

"Well, _somebody_ needs to make you scream."

Summer made a pathetic, quiet whimpering noise and then muttered, "You hate me."

He furrowed his brows and scoffed. "Hate you? If I hated you, I wouldn't be trying to help you come up with ways to help with your deprivation issue."

 _Yes_ , Summer silently stewed as she gulped down the rest of her wine, _because a threesome with my best friend and her fiancé is totally the logical choice, not, oh I don't know, offering to help me out yourself except oh wait, that's right, you'd rather hook up with desperate waitresses than even consider me for five seconds._

 _"_ Hey," Bucky said, nudging her ankle under the table with his foot, suddenly concerned now that her expression was rather sullen and humorless, "you know I'm just playing around, right?"

She nodded, forcing a smile on her face like the professional faker that she was. "Yeah I know."

"You're just a lot of fun to rile up," he shrugged with a small grin that she really wished wouldn't make her knees wobble. "But seriously though. How long has it been?"

She groaned and lost the energy to continue skating around the question. "Since Scott."

Bucky paused for a minute, brows furrowing and the wheels in his head turning as he silently counted. "... You dated him what... a year and a half ago?"

 _God,_ she needed more wine. "Yep."

He blinked. "Was it even good?"

Shifting uncomfortably, she muttered, "It was okay."

He raised an eyebrow. " _Okay_?"

"It... just... leave it alone," she said, cheeks burning as she violently stabbed at her food with her fork.

"All right, so, since you're being fidgety again, I'm just gonna assume that he didn't know what he was doing, and -"

"He was fine," she forced out. "He was. I just have a hard time getting out of my own head, okay?"

Bucky then watched as she continued to attack her food as if it had personally wronged her, and he started to feel a bit guilty again. He sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable," she lied. "I just don't like reliving embarrassing things. Which is another reason why I don't want to go to this stupid reunion."

"I thought you _did_ want to go."

"I do but I don't," she sighed, relieved that the conversation had drifted back to less mortifying territory. "I just... the thought of seeing those people again, the guys that made me feel like a piece of meat and the girls who were so _mean_ every single day of my life..."

"If you truly don't want to go, don't," Bucky replied. "Really. Just don't. We can go do something fun instead for a couple days."

"But Aemilia..."

"She'd understand," Bucky assured her. "You have to do what's best for _you_."

Summer sighed, honestly not really knowing quite what that was. She sat quietly for a moment, staring at her mostly uneaten food, and pondered why she was so conflicted. Was it fear and cowardice holding her back? Was it her inner 14-year-old making a reappearance, wanting to curl in on herself and hide from the people who used to torture her and Aemilia like it was their all-time favorite pastime?

Maybe that was _exactly_ what it was. Maybe, even after all of this time, those old wounds still hurt just a little bit. Maybe those bullies still had a certain amount of power over her even to this day, and without even saying a word to her or looking in her direction, they could still make her want to hide in a corner and only emerge once she knew they were gone.

And that was the realization that finally made up Summer's mind for good. "You know what? Frick it," she declared.

He chuckled. " _Frick_ it?"

"Yep. Frick it, because I'm done letting those people get to me. I'm gonna go to the stupid reunion, spend an entire paycheck on the hottest dress I can find, and walk in there like I own the place."

He grinned. "Now you're talking. And I'll worship the ground you walk on and show those bastards what they missed out on."

 _That_ made Summer smile. _If only it could be real_ , she mused, but... she supposed one night of pretending was better than nothing.

"Let's shake on it," he said, holding out his hand to hers across the table. "No more wavering, no second guessing. We're doing this and we're in it together. I've got your back. And you're gonna blow them all away. Deal?"

She took a breath and then took his hand in hers, shaking it and nodding. "Deal."

There was no going back now. It was happening, she had committed, and she was officially now more terrified than ever.

"Oh, by the way," Summer remembered as they pulled their hands away, "Aemilia's album release party is next Friday. And we're invited."

"Good!" Bucky said cheerfully, picking his fork back up. "That'll be good practice for us."

Summer froze, staring at him cautiously. "... Practice? We don't need practice."

He then gave her a knowing look and dropped his fork back down, reaching across the table and taking her hand tenderly in his. She looked at their hands in alarm and then felt her heart nearly stop at the distinct sensation of his foot sliding up her ankle under the table.

"Summer," he murmured in his best, drippingly sexual voice. "Are you sure about that?"

Face, neck and chest now bright red and on fire, Summer gulped and then let go of his hand, jerking her leg backwards for good measure and then nodding, "Yep, okay. We need practice. Yeah. Lots of practice."

Bucky simply chuckled and went back to casually eating his dinner, all the while Summer tried to will her heartbeat back into a normal rhythm and keep breathing. If that was all it took from him to nearly kill her, she might not survive this little charade of theirs.

 _Oh God_ , she thought to herself as she stared unseeingly down at her plate and began panicking inside all over again, _what have I gotten myself into this time?_

 **A/N: hey everybody! :D So I know what some of you are probably thinking - what the heck am I doing posting another AU when LAD is nearly finished and I've still got At Your Service needing to be updated soon. WELL, the short answer to that is, I'm always a slut for a new AU, so... here we are :D basically one day I mentioned to my awesome, amazing, beautiful, stunningly brilliant partner in crime midnightwings96 that one of these days I needed to give the fake relationship trope a spin because it would be fun. She came up with this lovely idea, and voila :p I hope you guys will like it, and I look forward to hearing from you! I think this story will be five chapters long including an epilogue, so it won't be too long, and I hope to have it all finished soon. I'll be posting the second chapter fairly soon, so keep an eye out for it if you enjoyed this :D thank you guys again for reading, and I love you :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: WOW you guys have had an amazing response to this story :D thank you all so much! I'm so excited that you guys are enjoying it, and I can't thank you enough for your reviews and follows and faves :D my huge thanks also to midnightwings96 for helping me so much with the planning and plotting of this fic and for being generally perfect. I love you guys, and just as a sidenote, this story is now gonna be 5 chapters instead of 4. Hopefully none of you will mind :D thanks again for reading, and let me know what you guys think! :D**

The following Friday evening, Summer was dressed and ready for Aemilia's big party and sitting in the back of a cab, furiously texting her "date" for the evening to hurry up and get down to the cab before they were late. But before she could hit send, the door opened and he was sliding in next to her with all of his natural, almost unsettling grace, flashing her a smile that most certainly did _not_ make her weak in the knees or anything.

"Texting me to hurry up and get down here?" he asked, eyeing her phone and reaching for the seatbelt before the driver took back off.

"Yes, actually," she replied, running her eyes over him as quickly and covertly as possible, which in her case was not very covertly at all. He was dressed in a dark blue suit with a black shirt and black tie, and the long hair that she loved so much was up in a somewhat messy bun at the back of his head, with a few shorter strands around his face hanging free. She couldn't help but feel personally attacked when he looked so... well... _mouthwatering_ , really.

"Always so impatient," he pretended to scold her, making her snap out of her momentary daze and look him in the eye. "So what's our cover story again?"

She took a breath and pulled up the note on her phone that contained the details of their fake relationship. "Okay, so, we've been together six months. We met at the park, when I was out for a jog and you were walking your dog. Your dog ran up to me, and while I was petting him, you came up and introduced yourself, blah blah."

"I don't have a dog," he pointed out.

"Well, the fake boyfriend version of yourself does," she shrugged. "Your dog's a yellow lab named Buster, by the way. Bucky and Buster."

He furrowed his brows. "I would never name a dog Buster. Why can't we have a more... conventional story? Like we met at a bar over drinks? Or we met like we actually _did_ in real life, for your interview."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not telling people I met my boyfriend in a random bar because... no," she groaned, "and second, _heck no,_ because this is fake and we need to keep it fake. No line-blurring stuff. And it's easier to keep a story straight if it's completely made up."

"... I don't know what kind of logic that is, but okay," he shrugged. "So what was our first date?"

"Dinner and dancing," she replied. "You took me to the old swing club on 29th."

He turned and looked at her with wide eyes. "I took you to a _swinger's club?"_

 _"No,"_ she rolled her eyes. "The swing _dancing_ club, you pervert."

"Oh," he grinned. "I was gonna say, that's a hell of a first date."

She shook her head, smiling despite herself. "Yeah... no. So then second date was dinner and a movie. Third was a picnic in the park. Buster came along for that one."

He nodded. "You know I'm never gonna remember any of this, right?"

She sighed. " _Bucky_..."

"I left part of my brain in Afghanistan, Summer, you can't expect me to remember all these fake dates," he pointed out with a rueful smile.

"I know, I know, just... try to remember how we met, okay? That's the most important detail."

"Okay. I'll do my best," he assured her. Then he paused, staring off out his window for a moment before he turned back to her and asked curiously, "So how many dates did it take before we finally ripped each other's clothes off and made sweet passionate love? Did we go back to your place or mine?"

Eyes bulging from their sockets and face immediately scarlet with an embarrassingly bright blush, Summer sputtered and all but gasped, "Why do we - you don't - nobody's gonna ask us that!"

"But I need to know!" he protested, and she couldn't tell if he was serious or just pulling her leg like he always did. "You want me to stick to this fake history, and that's fine. But I need more details. How long did it take for us to have sex? Did we screw around for awhile first and ease into it or was it like _bam_ , right down to business on the third date?"

She brought her hand to her face and groaned. "Oh my God, Bucky..."

He angled himself towards her more and asked casually, "What's your favorite position?"

Her blush now more of a raging fever than anything else, she covered her face with both hands and whimpered, "Oh my God, stop!"

"But I have to know these things!"

"No you don't!"

Undeterred, he went on, "How adventurous are we? Just missionary? Or do we get adventurous? How adventurous? Do you like to be on top? What about BDSM? No? Not into that?"

She dropped her hands and then stuck her fingers in her ears, leaning her head back against the seat and closing her eyes. "I can't hear you, la la la."

Grinning and loving the effect he was having on her, he pulled one hand from her ear and kept his line of questioning moving right along. "I'm not talking about the gags and chains and stuff like that, but maybe some light bondage -"

Her eyes shot open so fast it nearly caused her genuine pain. "Light _what_?!"

"... And blindfolds are fun too. Have you ever used one of those? Would you want to? And hey, out of curiosity, how do you feel about face-sitting?"

The scandalized look on her face was utterly priceless. " _Bucky_!"

He grinned and shrugged. "No, this stuff is important! And what about role play? I've never done it before, but I've always been curious. How about a little pain play? Nothing serious or overboard of course, but what about biting? Hair pulling? Scratching? _Spanking?"_

Just then, courtesy of her highly unhelpful brain, a very vivid image popped up in Summer's head of the two of them, maybe the fake versions that they were playing or maybe not, in Bucky's office across town. She was bent over his desk and he was behind her, one hand fisted in her hair and giving her a rough tug as his other pulled up her skirt, his lips leaving bruising kisses along the back of her shoulder and neck, teeth leaving marks along the way. He whispered unspeakable things in her ear - _growled_ them - and when she did nothing but whimper, his hand came down in a loud smack that felt as good as it hurt and -

"...Would you say you're more of a silent type? Or a moaner... maybe a screamer?"

Snapping out of her hideously untimely and shockingly _delicious_ fantasy, Summer blinked and asked, "W... what?"

"Normally I'm a pretty good judge of this stuff, but I can't tell with you. Maybe... maybe you _try_ to stay quiet but end up screaming anyway." He rubbed at the light layer of scruff on his chin and tilted his head. "Am I right?"

"... I don't scream," she muttered, turning away her gaze and scratching at her neck. "I'm very quiet."

"... Maybe that's because nobody's given you a _reason_ to scream yet."

Summer sighed, closing her eyes and praying that the car would stop so the earth could open up and swallow her whole. Her eyes then drifted towards the rearview mirror up front, and when she saw the wide-expression of their apparently dumbstruck cab driver, she rolled her eyes and almost laughed. _Fantastic_.

Bucky was only silent for about thirty seconds before another question popped up in his head. "How do you feel about dirty talk? Do you like it? If you do, _how_ dirty? Is there such a thing as too much? Do we both do it or is it mainly just me? What about sexting? Phone sex? Ever done it? Would you _like_ to do it? You know, I've heard that Skype sex is a thing now -"

Mustering up the best glare that she could, Summer turned to him and said, "I will fake-break up with you if you don't stop."

He merely grinned. "You're depriving me of details that are key to me staying in character."

"Not really," she shook her head. "We met in the park. We've been together six months. We're madly in love. That's it."

Bucky nodded, pausing. "Right, but how many times do I typically make you come in one night?"

She threw her clutch at him, narrowly missing his face. "For the love of God, _stop_ _it_!"

"Fine, fine," he grinned, picking up her clutch from his lap and handing it back to her. "I'll stop. And no more throwing things. _Bad girl_."

"Right, _I'm_ the bad one," she groaned.

"You are. Maybe I'll fake-spank you later for throwing that thing at me. You'd probably fake-like it."

 _No_ , she'd really like it and there would be nothing fake about it, but he didn't need to know that. Keeping that little fact to herself, Summer then felt a mixture of great relief and renewed anxiety when the cab finally arrived at its destination.

"Okay," she said, taking a small pile of cash out of her clutch and handing it to the driver - who she tipped very well, considering the talk he had very gracefully pretended to ignore - "practice run time."

"I'm ready," he smiled brightly before opening his door and getting out, buttoning his suit jacket as he strolled over to the other side. He opened her door and offered his hand with a maddening little grin, and she took it with small sigh.

He pulled her to her high-heeled feet and closed the door, and the taxi drove off. Summer was then face to face with a load of paparazzi who looked at her and Bucky for all of five seconds before realizing they were nobody special and going back to muttering amongst themselves and waiting for the real stars to arrive.

"The joys of being a nobody," Bucky said as he held Summer's hand and walked her inside the hotel, past the horde of uninterested photographers.

Trying to think clearly despite the warmth of his hand in hers and still trying to shake off their previous conversation, Summer replied, "Yeah... it has its benefits."

He led her through the front revolving door, and then when she was back at his side, rather than take her hand back, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her alarmingly tightly against him. She was about to squeak in protest when he leaned in close and murmured in her ear, "Real couples don't walk so far apart. You were like a mile away from me before."

"Oh," she said, trying not to stutter and keep up with him as they walked towards the hotel's ballroom. "Sorry."

He chuckled and gently, casually, kissed her temple. "S'all right, sweetheart."

 _Oh boy_. The night hadn't even gotten started yet and she was already regretting every decision she'd ever made in her entire life.

* * *

When Loki and Aemilia arrived arm in arm soon after, they looked like they had stepped out a movie. Summer watched from inside as they breezed past the paps, all smiles and elegance and the wind hitting their hair just right to make it look even more ridiculously perfect, and she just smiled and shook her head. Those two had been made for each other, she was sure of it.

Loki was dressed in a crisp black suit, complete with a green and gold scarf draped around his neck and a long black coat on his shoulders, looking every bit the successful record label owner that he was. Aemilia, meanwhile, was the picture of quietly fierce beauty in a black and gold lace dress, tall black heels and her voluminous red curls down and pinned on one side of her head. They matched beautifully, and they were so gorgeous together that had Summer not known them personally and loved them both dearly, she would have likely hated them.

After that dramatic entrance, Aemilia and Summer shared a hug inside while the men shook hands, but there wasn't yet time to mingle and talk the night away. The rest of Aemilia's band had already arrived and were setting up in the ballroom, and with one more quick hug, Summer let Aemilia go and get ready for her performance.

The party was small and private, but the ballroom was quite full of people ranging from friends, family, contacts and acquaintances of Loki as well as the band. Summer stuck close to Bucky's side as they navigated through the space, naturally shy despite how often she had to socialize thanks to her job as a journalist, but this was a sort of event she'd had yet to experience.

It ended up being one of the highlights of her whole year. Seeing her childhood best friend get up on the stage with the band that she led, called The Little Ones, and eloquently thank all of those in attendance for coming before smoothly sinking in to a performance of a few of their songs... it made Summer's heart swell with pride. Almost every time she watched Aemilia perform she teared up, and that time was no exception.

The band was a little family of its own, and one that had come together as organically as one could. Clint, the trumpet player, was a married father of three who had also brought along Wanda - something of a fourth, unofficially adopted daughter - who played upright bass. Then there was Elida on guitar, a girl whom Summer and Aemilia both had been wonderful friends with in college. On piano was Sam, actually a mutual friend that Bucky and his own childhood best friend had served with overseas, who always said that music was his therapy. Altogether it was a lovely little family, and currently the band sitting on top of both jazz and mainstream charts.

Their first and current number one hit, _Ruin_ , was the first song that was performed. Summer was utterly in love with it and had been from the moment she'd first heard it. It was sultry and sensual and had been cowritten by Loki and Aemilia, the song reflecting the beginning stages of their relationship and how overwhelming and consuming of an experience it had been.

In slightly more crude terms, the song was ridiculously hot. Summer had never experienced the type of thing that the song was about, that fundamentally life-altering collision with someone who could literally _ruin_ you for all others, but the song still made her feel things. Things she didn't want to admit and things that she especially would never admit to the person those feelings were for.

She was pretty sure that if her thoughts ever did come to fruition, she would finally experience what Aemilia had experienced with Loki. But she was also a realist, and she knew that the closest she was gonna get to that was the fake relationship that she was taking on a test run that night.

It was just as well, she tried to convince herself. By the time that Aemilia had finished singing the closing notes, Summer was applauding excitedly next to her pretend-date, absolutely overjoyed and beyond proud of Aemilia. Aemilia caught her eye from the stage and smiled brightly, and for a moment they almost felt like kids again - but in a good way, not the miserably insecure way.

Aemilia then led the band into a few other songs from the album, and she kept the ballroom enthralled and hooked on the band's performance. Summer was almost sad when it was over and the band members bowed to their lovely, small audience, but now it was time for the party. And that was, after all, what everyone had come for.

With a fully stocked open bar and music never ceasing in the background, Summer had Bucky grab her a _very_ full glass of the finest Chardonnay on hand and drank about half of it in two minutes. She knew it was only a matter of time before she and Bucky would be introduced to someone and their tall tale would be put to the test. And she wasn't wrong.

Clint, who Summer and Bucky were both already familiar with, headed their way with his wife Laura on his arm. They'd never met her before - Bucky liked to joke that Clint kept her locked away in a secret tower, with how little anyone ever saw her - and she ended up being their first test subject.

"Oh my gosh," Bucky grinned when the other couple approached them, "he finally let you out of the tower for a night?"

Clint rolled his eyes while Laura laughed. "Guys, this is my wife Laura, Laura these are a couple of dorks I met through Aemilia, Summer and Bucky."

As the appropriate smiles and greetings were exchanged, Bucky slid an arm around Summer's waist and pulled her close to his side. Clint, who was pretty damn sure they were just friends, raised a curious eyebrow at the gesture but said nothing. Laura, however, did.

"So how long have you two been together?" she smiled, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Summer suddenly felt like the proverbial deer in headlights. "Oh, um... six months."

Clint's other eyebrow perked up along with the other one. "Really?"

Summer gulped. "Yep. Six months."

"Six _fantastic_ months," Bucky winked at Clint. Summer just barely resisted the urge to kick him.

"How'd you two meet?" Laura asked, finding them adorable.

"Oh, we, uh... um..." Summer almost began to sweat - _what was the story again_?!

"We... met at the park," Bucky smiled, doing his very best to remember the story himself. "I was there with my dog... Boomer. I was playing frisbee with him, and I... accidentally hit her with the frisbee."

"Oh no!" Laura laughed, and Summer looked up at Bucky in mild alarm. Not only had he gotten his fake dog's name wrong, but there was definitely no frisbee involved in their fake story. _What was he doing?!_

"Yeah, so then Boomer went and grabbed it, and I ran up and apologized as he slobbered all over her. He's real friendly, you know, typical big dumb black lab, thinks he's a puppy still -"

Summer nearly groaned and facepalmed. He was supposed to be a _yellow_ lab. These details were important, dang it.

"She wasn't hurt or anything, but I offered to buy her lunch to make up for it. And we kinda just... went from there."

Clint still eyed the two curiously even as Laura fawned over them. "That's so cute!"

Summer smiled as Bucky tugged her even closer against him, his fingers splayed out possessively over her hip, and her face went up in flames as she grinned and half-stuttered, "Thank you! Yeah, we, uh... we're very... we're happy." _Ugh_.

"Very happy," Bucky confirmed, still grinning. "I'm a lucky bastard."

"Yeah," Clint blinked, thoroughly confused but ultimately deciding he didn't really care. "Well, not as lucky as I am."

Laura smiled and rolled her eyes, but she smiled as Clint leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips, and Summer suddenly felt herself go hot all over with panic - were she and Bucky gonna have to do that at some point?! She hadn't even thought about kissing to maintain their covers, but now it was probably gonna be the only thing she thought about for the rest of the night. _Oh_ _God_.

She gulped down the rest of her wine as Bucky asked Laura, "So what do you do? I feel kinda like you're a figment of my imagination, I'm so used to hearing about you but never actually seeing you."

"Oh," she smiled with a small shrug. "Well, I'm a real estate developer, so I'm very busy. He doesn't actually keep me locked away in a tower."

"Probably should," Clint mused, looking around them. "Already spotted some guys I might need to beat up for eyeballing you."

"Control your inner caveman, honey," Laura rolled her eyes. Then she smiled at Summer and mused, " _Men_ , right?"

Summer forced out a laugh. "Right!"

"If I had to beat up every guy who checks Summer out," Bucky remarked, "I'd have no time to do anything else. I mean, _look_ at this woman." His eyes swept up and down her figure for emphasis, making her blush furiously and almost squirm away, but his arm held her close.

"Aw," Laura smiled, "I love it. You guys are really in love, I can tell."

Summer's eyes widened in surprise before she remembered that appearing in love was what they were going for. Bucky, on the other hand, grew more serious looking for a moment before he caught himself and grinned, "Couldn't hide it if I tried."

Summer knew that she shouldn't let his words get to her, but she couldn't help it. It was no less than a knife slipping straight into her heart to hear something like that leave his lips and know that it wasn't true when she wished _so badly_ that it _was._

"Man, think I just got a new cavity after that one," Clint said, eyeing Bucky with amusement. "Want some wine with that cheese?"

"Sure, I prefer red if you're offering," Bucky replied with a grin, and Summer laughed nervously, trying to shake off the previous moment still.

"So what do you guys do?" Laura asked next. "I know Clint's told me before, but I can't put my finger on it."

"She writes for the _Times_ ," Bucky said, gesturing to Summer. "She's brilliant. I'm a psychologist. I mainly work out of the VA right now."

"Oh, that's right!" Laura nodded. "Now I remember. That's great. How's work going?"

"Pretty good," Bucky nodded, looking to Summer next.

"It's great," she smiled. "I love my job, I really do. I got lucky with getting an internship right out of college. It wasn't paid so eating was kind of difficult for awhile," she chuckled, "but it paid off. I'm really thankful."

"Almost as thankful as I am for her," Bucky told the other couple with a grin, and Summer was about to kick him for laying it on too thick when she suddenly felt fingers under her chin. Panic immediately setting in, her eyes widened fractionally as he lifted her head and started leaning in close as if for a kiss, and then she realized that was exactly what he was going to do. _He was going to kiss her._

She panicked and turned her face at the last minute, forcing his lips to catch her cheek instead. Even that contact made her heart thump and pound against her chest, and when she giggled and squirmed away, Bucky played it off like a pro and said, "Never much for PDA, this one."

Summer shrugged innocently. "No, not really," she admitted even though it was a lie. She was still shaking from just the almost kiss, and she was fairly sure that Bucky could feel it with how closely she was pressed to his side.

"You know, neither am I," Laura nodded. "But Clint here, he's incorrigible."

"That I am," Clint admitted, stealing another kiss as Summer and Bucky chuckled.

Bucky used the other couple's brief distraction to lean down and whisper in Summer's ear, " _You're killing me here."_

 _"You tried to kiss me!"_ she hissed back _._

 _"Real couples kiss each other!"_ Bucky pointed out before Clint was talking again and they had to focus on acting normal again.

This was way harder than she had anticipated it would be.

After Clint and Laura bade them farewell and they worked their way through a few more equally awkward talks with a few other couples, Bucky headed to the bar to get Summer another drink. That was when she felt a soft, delicate hand grasp hers, and she looked up to find Aemilia smiling happily.

"There you are!" Aemilia grinned excitedly, hugging her friend briefly. "Where have you been all night?"

"In fake couple hell," Summer groaned. She then dropped her voice into a whisper and said, " _Aemilia, he tried to kiss me!_ "

Aemilia's eyes widened and she looked utterly delighted. "He did? Well then it's going even better than I thought it would."

"No!" Summer shook her head. "It's bad! Very, very bad! I turned my head at the last minute like an idiot and his kissed my cheek instead."

"Oh, _Summer_ ," Aemilia groaned. " _Why_? You should have given him a kiss to remember!"

"Well, we were talking to Clint and his wife and I don't know," Summer sighed. "It would have been weird to get into it in front of them, plus it's _Bucky_ and I can't kiss _Bucky_."

"Why not? Summer, this is your chance to show him what he's missing out on," Aemilia told her just as Loki reappeared at her side, taking her hand. "Right, darling?"

"Absolutely," Loki replied, having heard enough to know what the girls were talking about. "You should torture that man until he can't see straight. Or at least walk out of a room without attracting an embarrassing amount of attention to his groin area."

Summer furrowed her brows in confusion for a minute before understanding and groaning, "Oh God. I can't. I can't seduce him. I literally can't. I don't have seduction in me."

"With all due respect, that is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard you say," Loki replied bluntly. "Every woman has the power to bring a man to his knees. And that man," Loki glanced across the ballroom to Bucky, still waiting at the bar, "would have already gladly been on his knees for you months ago if you had said the word."

Summer stared at Loki with wide, bewildered eyes. When she turned to Aemilia next, Aemilia simply smiled and said, "I would have to agree. All the signs are there." When Summer then began to sputter and mentally flail about, Aemilia gently told her, "Don't overthink it, Summer. But the next time he tries you kiss you, let him. And make it too good for him to forget."

Summer took a deep breath. "Okay. Yeah, no, you're right. I will."

Aemilia smiled and gave Summer an encouraging smile. Even Loki gave her a little wink, and Summer decided that she wouldn't panic and freak out like an idiot if he tried to kiss her again.

But the problem was, he didn't. In fact, for the rest of the night, Bucky was quieter than he had been at the start of the night, and a lot less flirtatious and daring. He stuck to the script, holding her hand and not holding her waist as possessively as he had before. The only kiss she got was one on her temple towards the end of the night, and she wondered what the heck she had done to make him act so different from one minute to the next.

As test runs go, all in all, it wasn't the best. Neither one of them considered throwing in the towel, but Summer was worried for how it would all go once the reunion actually came. Even more importantly, she worried for the state of their friendship once everything was over and it all went back to normal.

* * *

To Summer's relief as well as her slight disappointment, Bucky never brought up the awkward almost-kiss and for the most part, they both acted like the night had gone perfectly fine and as well as could be expected. That was hardly the truth, but Summer had become rather skilled in the art of skating around the truth and ignoring it in recent years.

A few blessedly busy weeks passed, and the high school reunion date loomed ever closer. Summer and Aemilia shopped for dresses that would show off how good adulthood had been to them while Loki was placed in charge of renting the needed hotel rooms. Bucky took a few vacation days to have time off for the event, and Summer assured him that his only job was to show up, look good, and make everyone rue the day that they tortured her.

By the time the dreaded day arrived and it was time to hit the road, Summer was already fluttering wildly with anxiety. Bucky helped her pack, throwing her toothbrush in her bag when she nearly forgot it. He also snuck a peek at the dress she'd bought, then raised his eyebrows and looked at her with wide eyes before she snatched it out of his hands and zipped it back up in the bag protecting it. He whistled lowly and she threw a hairbrush at his head, but he ducked below it and laughed at the blush on her face.

Then when Loki showed up outside of her apartment in his car with Aemilia in the passenger seat, ready to head to their old hometown, Bucky got Summer's bags (and his sole bag of his own) in the trunk and saw her into the car before he hopped on his motorcycle to follow them.

Then they were off to their doom. Well, Summer's doom, anyway. She was sure that Loki and Aemilia would likely have all of their former classmates worshipping at their feet before the reunion was over.

It was a relatively short trip, two and a half hours passing before they arrived in Greenport, New York. Though it was a charming little town on the north tip of Long Island and rather tiny, Summer still looked at the town as if it was the very incarnation of hell itself. Never mind that it was surrounded by water rather than fiery flames and cackling red guys with pointed tails and pitchforks.

Being a small town, there was exactly one public high school. When they drove past it on the way to the hotel in the downtown square, Summer stared at it from her backseat window and tried not to visibly shudder and perhaps vomit with anxiety.

"All right back there, dear?" Loki asked when he glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed Summer looking a bit green.

"... Not really," she admitted, swallowing down the sudden lump in her throat. She willed herself to calm the hell down before actually threw up, especially since the reunion wasn't even until the following night.

"Just breathe, Summer," Aemilia told her. "Just think of how their jaws are all going to hit the floor when we walk in that place tomorrow."

Summer suddenly gagged on nothing and almost legitimately retched on Loki's pristine leather seats. Luckily, however, she managed to keep it all in, and they arrived at the hotel a few moments later.

Bucky parked his bike next to Loki's car, and when Summer opened the door and wobbled out, he was quick to ask her concernedly, "You okay?"

She shrugged and waved him off, heading towards the trunk. "Carsick."

Bucky furrowed his brows. "Carsick? You don't get carsick."

"Apparently," Aemilia said as she closed her own door, "she does when she's taking trips back to her dreaded hometown."

Bucky made a face of understanding and then went to help Summer with her bags as Loki popped the trunk open. The fresh air was helping her feel a little better, but the distinct smell of salt in the air wafting their way from the nearby docks was also bringing her right back to her childhood. The crappy part, not the mostly happy part that she spent with her parents and brother in Virginia.

Bucky took his bag and both of Summer's, ignoring her protests when she tried to make him give her at least one thing to carry. She then followed him and the other couple into the hotel lobby, taking a deep breath and trying to mentally de-frazzle her nerves as Loki checked them in.

Everything was going to be fine, she reminded herself. They would all get into their rooms, settle in, go eat dinner somewhere nearby, and then it would be tomorrow before she knew it. It would all be over quickly, and then she could go back to her life in the city and once again forget about the hell that high school had been.

But because life was never as simple or easy as it should have been, even their hotel reservations didn't work out as planned.

The woman behind the desk, a nice lady not much older than the four of them, furrowed her brows as she stared at her computer. "I'm only finding two reservations, sir."

Loki's previously polite expression fell into a flat, unimpressed scowl. "Excuse me?"

The woman glanced up at him, widened her eyes a little, and stuttered, "Y-you... only booked two rooms, sir. Not three."

Summer almost laughed to herself. This was already just _great_. Fantastic, even.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, _ma'am_ ," Loki retorted. "I specifically reserved three rooms, and three rooms is what we are going to get."

"But... sir, we're full," the woman muttered, trying not to look him in the eye. "The two rooms you reserved are all that we have ready."

Loki opened his mouth to give the woman the tongue lashing of her life and demand to see her supervisor, but Aemilia stepped in at that point and smiled pleasantly, "We understand. Clearly a mistake was made, but it wasn't your fault. I think that we can make do with two rooms," she flashed a knowing little smile at Bucky and Summer. "Can't we?"

"Absolutely," Bucky replied with a shrug as Summer stared wide-eyed at him. "You guys get one, me and Summer take the other one. No big deal."

Aemilia then smirked at Summer, and Summer wondered if screaming at the top of her lungs and then taking a bus home would be overreacting.

Loki continued to grumble and voice his intentions to make sure the hotel manager knew what sort of shoddy operation he or she was running, but the woman at the desk handed over the keys and he took them anyway.

As the group turned and made for the elevator, Aemilia leaned in close and muttered so only Summer could hear, " _You're welcome_."

" _I hate you_ ," Summer hissed back, and Aemilia responded with a self-satisfied giggle as they filed into the elevator.

With Summer's luck, the room would probably only have one bed too. This entire trip was already looking rather disastrous, and they'd only _just_ arrived at the hotel.

* * *

About five minutes later, Summer and Bucky stood in the doorway of their hotel room, looking over it and not saying a word for a good long moment or two.

Summer was right. There was only one bed. Not even a particularly large bed either, but a queen sized bed.

"Well," Bucky sighed as he kicked the door shut behind them and dropped their bags, "guess I'll take the floor."

"You are _not_ sleeping on the floor." Summer immediately protested, having known the minute she saw the bed that he would try to be all self-sacrificing and sleep on the floor. "You can sleep on the bed. I'll just... sleep on that chair over there."

Bucky eyed said chair - a rather small, unimpressive arm chair - and then eyed Summer next. "If I let you sleep on that thing, my mom would come back from the grave and haunt me for the rest of my life. _No_. I'll take the floor."

" _No_ ," she argued, dropping her purse next to their bags and following him as he looked around the room. "Are you kidding? I just dragged you two and a half hours across New York so you could come here and pretend to be my boyfriend tomorrow, and you expect me to let you sleep on the floor?"

He sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking at the bed for a moment. Then he shrugged and said, "Well, since we're pretending to be a couple and all, I guess we can just share the bed."

Summer felt sort of like she had just tripped and fallen into the _Twilight Zone_ or perhaps an alternate reality where her life had suddenly become a romantic comedy, but something overcame her in that moment that prompted her to shrug back and say, "Fine."

He raised his eyebrows and stared at her in surprise. He'd only been kidding. "Fine?"

She shrugged again. "Yeah. Why not? We're both adults. It's just a bed."

He blinked a couple times, having not expected such a nonchalant reaction from someone so typically high-strung. "... Okay. Yeah."

She paused, mistaking his surprise for something else. "Unless you don't want to."

"No, I _wanna_ sleep with you, I just wasn't expecting - _shit_ , I didn't mean..." Bucky, normally so well-spoken and not one for word vomit, smiled and actually _blushed_ as he tried to cover up his mistake. "I don't wanna sleep with you, like _sleep_ with you, but I... not that you're ugly or I think you'd be bad at it, but _fucking shit_ what the fuck am I even saying -"

"Oh my God," Summer said, throwing her hands up and feeling utterly mortified, "I get it. _Wow_. Just... uh..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry," he nodded, scratching the back of his neck and fidgeting a bit on his feet. "But... yeah, you're right. We're both adults, so... it'll be fine."

"Yeah, just... don't sleep naked or anything," she said, seemingly unable to stop herself from further making things even more awkward. "Because you're a guy and guys... you know, in the morning they're..."

"Right, yeah, no," he chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't poke you with anything."

She could have died right then and been perfectly fine with it. In fact, she was a bit miffed that the Grim Reaper kept missing these cringe-worthy moments instead of letting her catch a break for once. "Good, yeah. I don't have anything to poke you with, so... you should be fine too."

He nodded. "Well, this is just about the most awkward conversation of my life."

"It is," she agreed, nodding back. "Is my face as red as I think it is?"

"It's not even red anymore," he shrugged. "I think purple is more accurate at this point."

"Fantastic," she said, giving herself the thumbs-up. "You know what it is? Everything about this trip has me so stressed out, and I just... I'm freaking out, and now I'm making an idiot out of myself, and -"

"Hey," he said softly, stepping closer to her and putting his hands gently on her shoulders. "It's all right. I get it. And you're gonna be fine. It's just a high school reunion. It's not not gonna be anywhere near as bad as you're afraid it will."

"You don't know that," she pointed out.

"Well, the thing is, I'm a psychologist," he said with a small smile. "I've had a lot of patients with anxiety just like yours. You wanna know what I tell them?"

"... Take two Xanax and call you in the morning?" she guessed.

He smirked in amusement and shook his head. "Close, but no. I tell them to take the thing they're so anxious about and _really_ think about it. Is sitting around and stressing and worrying about it gonna change anything or solve the problem?"

She paused. "... No."

"Can you do a single thing right now to change how tomorrow's gonna turn out?"

She let out a deep breath. "No."

"Do you _want_ to keep letting it bother you so much?"

"God, no," she shook her head.

"Good. Then take a deep breath," he said, and she did as he breathed with her, "and let it out. Now for the rest of the night, you're in an anxiety-free zone. You've accepted that you can't do a damn thing about tomorrow tonight, so we're gonna go out and have fun instead."

She raised an eyebrow, smiling now. "We are?"

He nodded. "Hell yeah we are. And if I have to pour tequila down your throat until you loosen up and have fun, that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

She laughed and then asked, "Do you do that for all of your patients?"

"Just the hot ones," he winked, taking his hands off of her and then turning around, heading for his suitcase. "I'm gonna change, and then we can grab Loki and Aemilia and head out."

"Okay," she nodded before a question popped into her head. Tilting her head, she asked, " _Have_ you ever hooked up with a patient before?"

He turned and looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you kidding? I'd lose my license."

"I know," she blushed and shrugged. "Just wondering. I mean, I know how girls are with you, so it wouldn't surprise me if a patient ever tried to... you know... seduce you or whatever."

"I never said nobody ever _tried_ ," he said, unzipping his suitcase and ruffling through the shirts he'd bought. "But I'd never do anything like that. I _do_ know how to think with my head and not my dick, you know."

Summer snorted out a laugh - _so attractive_ , she instantly berated herself - and shrugged teasingly, "You sure about that? Because I've had my doubts about that in the past, but..."

Now straightened up with clothes in hand, Bucky made an unimpressed face and gently booped her on the head. "If that was true, sweetheart, _trust me_ , you'd know it."

He then clucked his tongue at her and strolled past her into the bathroom. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully, and then when the bathroom door shut behind him, she sighed and then slowly realized what he had just said.

Wait. _What_?

* * *

After grabbing dinner at a restaurant that Summer had never had enough money to eat at when she had grown up in Greenport, the little group of four had then filed out and took a little tour of the downtown square as the sun began to set. Loki critiqued the designs of all the buildings - such a stickler for such things, he always was - and the girls laughed with each other as they pointed out places they used to frequent as kids. The ice cream shop they used to love was now a bar by the looks of it, and a rather busy one. A sign in the window proclaimed the bar open for karaoke night, and Aemilia then got a look in her eyes that scared the living hell out of Summer.

"Aemilia," Summer warned, standing stiffly on the sidewalk. "No."

"Summer," Aemilia nearly crooned, reaching out and grabbing her friend by her hands, " _yes_."

Loki chuckled and got the door for them, while Bucky stayed behind Summer and helped Aemilia smuggle her inside the place. "Fine," Summer said when she realized she was defeated, "but you're not getting me to sing anything."

"We'll see about that," Aemilia grinned as they entered the place. She glanced at Bucky and added, "Won't we?"

"Oh definitely," Bucky grinned.

Summer groaned. "I hate you both."

* * *

A glass and a half of wine, two shots of whiskey and whatever the hell kind of dessert shooter that Bucky had bought her later, Summer was all happy giggles and pleasantly flushed cheeks. The four of them had gotten a table tucked away in a corner, giving them a great view of the mostly terrible patrons giving most 80s hits their best shot on the tiny stage, and to her surprise, Summer was having a genuinely great time. Alcohol always made everything better - to a point, anyway - and she was starting to feel a bit more like herself as the night went on.

Bucky had been right, after all. There was nothing she could do about the reunion or literally anything about the next day at this point, so what was the point in worrying? She wasn't sure that she would have been able to stop without the aid of alcohol, but she felt good and she definitely wasn't gonna question it.

The other thing about alcohol was that it tended to make her even more oblivious than she already was, and that was no small feat. So she didn't notice when a guy at another table was apparently checking her out, and she especially didn't notice when Bucky sent the man a bone-chilling glare that might have killed him had looks been capable of such a thing. She did, however, notice when Bucky then tossed his arm over the back of her seat, but that wasn't strange or unusual for him.

Loki had seen everything, however, and with a knowing look in his piercing green eyes he casually asked Bucky, "So, are you still single these days?"

"Very single," Bucky replied, taking a sip from his glass of whiskey.

"Not as single as me," Summer laughed, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "He gets all the phone numbers. Like if I had a quarter for every time a cute waitress wrote her number on his receipt, I'd be rich."

"That doesn't mean I hook up with all of them," Bucky pointed out, but Summer merely scoffed.

" _Sure_ ," she rolled her eyes. "I bet you called that last one. She was pretty. _I_ would have called her."

"Wasn't interested," Bucky shrugged, taking another drink.

"Oh?" Loki asked. "Could this be because perhaps someone else in particular has caught your interest?"

Bucky stared flatly at Loki, and Aemilia chimed in next. "Well, if that was the case, I'm sure he would have told this person. Wouldn't you?"

"'Course," Bucky muttered before finishing his drink in one gulp. Summer, meanwhile, was obliviously tracing the rim of her glass with her finger, barely listening to anything being said and definitely not realizing that it all had quite a bit to do with her.

"No, I just... haven't had a lot of time to date," Bucky finally shrugged.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Oh, what a load of sh-"

"Why don't you get us more drinks, darling?" Aemilia asked Loki sweetly, interrupting him before he could further irritate their friend.

"Ooh, yeah!" Summer suddenly chirped up. "I want another one of those... thingys. What was that thing called that you gave me, Bucky?"

Grinning, Bucky looked her right in the eye and replied, "It's called a Screaming Orgasm, Summer."

Her eyes widened comically and she stared at him dumbly for what felt like ages before she finally realized that was the drink's actual name. "Oh! _That's_ what that thing was called?!"

"Yes," he laughed, his face growing adorably squishy as his eyes crinkled at the sides. She loved it when he laughed like that, and he never failed to get her laughing with him.

"Well," Loki said, standing up, "dear Summer, if you want another one of _those_ , ask Bucky to get you one instead. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to give you as many Screaming Orgasms as your system can handle."

Aemilia choked on her last sip of her own drink, and Bucky seriously considered killing Loki in that moment. Summer, however, just stared at Loki until she broke into a fit of confused giggles.

Bucky eventually sighed and told Summer he'd be back, getting up and begrudgingly following Loki to the bar to get the damn drinks. Then Aemilia giggled again and scooted closer to Summer so they could talk a bit more quietly amongst themselves.

"My fiancé is on quite the roll tonight," Aemilia noted, glancing up towards the men. They were talking as they waited for the bartender to get their orders.

"I know!" Summer giggled. "And can you believe there's a drink called a Screaming... you know?"

"Well," Aemilia replied, "I did once drink something called a Throw Me Down and Fuck Me, so..."

Summer stared at her friend in disbelief. "There is _not_ a drink called that."

"Oh, there is. Whiskey and some kind of fruity liqueur, maybe pineapple juice too, I think. Loki ordered it for me, of course."

Summer giggled. "That's crazy! Who comes up with this stuff?"

Aemilia smirked and replied, "I don't know, but it certainly was a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts."

Summer eyed Aemilia wearily and groaned, "Frick you and all the hot sex you get to have every day. Seriously, get away from me with that."

"Oh, you poor deprived soul," Aemilia patted her back. "And I don't think you're the only one, either."

Summer was about to play dumb and ask who Aemilia could be referring to, but then the men returned. Bucky had another glass of whiskey and two of the scandalously named shots that Summer had requested. She took one and he took the other, and when they were both in the process of drinking them, Loki told Aemilia, "Oh look, darling. And they say mutual orgasms never happen in real life."

That time, Summer choked while Aemilia's giggles filled fhe air. Bucky slammed the glass down on the table, glared at Loki and then muttered, "Fuck it." Then he stood up and walked away.

"Hey, where you going?" Summer asked, coughing a little, wondering for a moment if he was genuinely upset. But he didn't hear her and he wasn't actually upset, or at least not in the way that she suspected.

Instead, to her surprise, he claimed the karaoke stage next. In fact, they were _all_ surprised, since none of them could really recall the last time they'd heard him _sing_ in front of anyone.

Summer blinked, watching him as he browsed through his options. "Is he actually gonna..."

"I think he is," Aemilia said.

"If only he had the same courage in other areas," Loki remarked. Aemilia kicked him under the table.

Summer allowed herself a moment to stare at Bucky while his attention was otherwise occupied. He had his hair down that night, a little messy after he'd taken it down following the trip there, and he was dressed in his usual dark shades, though tonight he had a dark blue shirt on under his leather jacket instead of a black one. He tucked one side of his hair behind his ear as he went through the list of available songs, and Summer only snapped out of her daze when he glanced back to the table and caught her staring.

Face burning, she grabbed his whiskey and started slowly nursing it, keeping her eyes down and glued to the table so she wouldn't stare at him and embarrass herself again. Some days she really just wished that she could be normal and get a grip, stop overthinking _everything_ and just take a chance for once and see what would happen.

How she felt about him was written on her face, and yet he still never seemed to get it. Or maybe he did and he just ignored it because he didn't feel the same way. _Yeah_ , she thought, that was probably it. He knew and he just didn't care. But that wasn't like him to be that way, so maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was wrong about everything and always would be.

Her happy, silly buzz dangerously close to evaporating before her eyes, Summer's precarious mood hung in the balance for a few minutes as she wallowed in her own confusion. But then a clear, deep and smooth voice rang out and hit her ears, and she couldn't help but blink and look up in mild - or perhaps major - shock.

 _Shot through the heart, and you're to blame_

 _Darling, you give love a bad name_

He was _singing_. He was singing a Bon Jovi song - her favorite, actually. But most importantly, he was singing a Bon Jovi song to _her_ , because he was looking her right in the eye from the little stage as he sang those first few lines.

Then the melody kicked up and Bucky was grinning and laughing to himself, and Summer couldn't help but giggle too. She glanced at Aemilia who looked impressed and very entertained, already clapping in encouragement, and even Loki looked rather amused. Summer watched with great anticipation as Bucky slid into the first verse with such ease that she had to wonder how and where he learned to sing so well. He wasn't on Aemilia's level, of course, but for a half-drunk guy who'd just jumped on a karaoke stage... _wow_.

He stood there behind the microphone, holding on to it on the stand and looking the part with his long hair and leather jacket, essentially Summer's high school fantasy but a million times better. He sang his way through the first verse, making eye contact with her again on _you promise me heaven then put me through hell,_ and Summer watched in both awe and sheer confusion. She knew that he couldn't _actually_ be singing that song to her, but... it kind of definitely seemed that way.

At the end of the first chorus, he detached the microphone from the stand and then slowly strolled off of the stage, winking at some girl across the room - of _course_ \- but then turning his eyes back on Summer and Summer alone as he started singing the second verse and walking directly towards her.

 _Oh God_.

She looked up at him with wide eyes and a huge smile, and he grinned as he circled her chair, singing about smiles and blood red nails. Summer glanced at Aemilia and found her staring at them with an open mouth and a big smile of her own, but then her attention was stolen when she felt gentle fingers under her chin tipping her head back.

 _A schoolboy's dream_ , he just about growled, fingers lingering where they were as he looked her in the eye again and she forgot how to breathe, _you act so shy_...

So this is how it felt to die, some tiny part of Summer's brain realized. But then just another line or two later, his fingers were gone and so was he, turning and heading back to the stage. She hadn't even realized how people had been whistling the entire time he'd sang to her.

By this point, he had almost the entire bar singing with him, and Summer was a giant mess of confusion and excitement and more arousal than she needed while in a public place. She looked at Aemilia again and shared a wide-eyed look of shock with her, but then she felt her hand being tugged and she was being all but dragged to her feet.

Bucky had come back, smiling as he began to drag her to the stage with him. She laughed and protested but he didn't hear a word of it, and the next thing she knew, she was up there with him and helping him belt out the very last chorus. The way that he smiled at her when she finally gave in and started singing with him was more than enough to make her do anything, even drunkenly sing in front her friends and a bunch of strangers.

It was incredibly fun and oddly exhilarating, even though it only lasted for just around a minute. When they'd sang the last line and the song came to an end, Bucky grinned proudly at her and pulled her into a hug that made her heart soar. His arms felt like heaven and he smelled like he always did, like _him_ , and Summer wished that he would just put his hand in her hair and tilt her head back and...

"Me next!" Aemilia chirped, making Summer finally pull away from the embrace and smile brightly, wondering how long she'd been clinging to Bucky like a dying woman. Bucky gave Summer one more smile and then hopped down from the stage, and when she tried to follow him, Aemilia grabbed her hand and said, "Oh no you don't. You're going to stay up here and sing with me, woman."

Summer gulped. "Oh God."

Meanwhile, back at the table, Bucky flung himself back in his seat. He picked up his glass of whiskey, noticing the lipstick stain that Summer had left on it, and as he took a long drink, Loki raised an eyebrow and simply said, "Subtle."

He set down the glass and enjoyed the burn of the whiskey down his throat, muttering back, "Shut up."

* * *

Following Bucky's surprise serenade of death, Aemilia milked the moment for all it was worth and didn't let Summer leave the stage until their song was over. To Summer's endless amusement, she picked _Total Eclipse of the Heart_ and Summer could barely stop giggling long enough to sing it with her.

Arms slung around each other's shoulders and singing like there was no tomorrow, Summer didn't care if she sounded nothing like her vocally flawless best friend, instead enjoying the ridiculously fun moment for all it was. Bucky and Loki furiously applauded them, the latter taking Summer's place next to Aemilia following the little performance. Summer then sat back with Bucky at their table and watched with pure glee as Aemilia and Loki made a duet out of _I Wanna Know What Love Is_ , and they had an enormous amount of fun singing it together. It was also crystal clear to anyone watching how very much in love they were, and it made Summer's heart ache in mostly but not entirely pleasant ways.

She just _really_ wanted what they had. She wanted it so much it hurt sometimes, but she was determined not to think about that on that particular night. Instead, she drank more and got more gloriously drunk than she had in a _long_ time.

Some time around 2 AM that night, Summer and Bucky burst clumsily into their hotel room laughing and cursing. Bucky was trying to help Summer stay on her feet but he was too drunk to do much but send them both hurtling to the floor in a big pile of giggles.

"Ow," Summer squeaked in between gales of laughter, pushing up and off the floor and holding the elbow that she had just broken her fall on. "I thought you said you weren't drunk."

He was laying next to her, half on his side and half sprawled on his back, laughing under his breath as he waved a hand and said, "Guess I lied."

She groaned and managed to get herself back up despite how dizzyingly fast the room was spinning, and she managed to kick off her heels just in time before she faceplanted into bed. The bed that they were supposed to be _sharing_.

She heard him curse a few more times as he got up, then several heavy, uneven footsteps before he fell into bed next to her on his back. She opened her eyes and saw him laying there, eyes closed and lips parted as he groaned out a curse before sitting up and started pulling off his shirt.

"Hey," she muttered, reaching out and smacking his arm, "no sleeping naked, remember?"

"It's hot," he whined. "I'm always hot when I'm drunk."

She giggled and unthinkingly blurted out, "You're hot all the time." Then she opened her eyes in horror and realized that she had just said that out loud.

But he didn't hear her, because he was fighting a war with his shirt and the shirt was winning. He had it mostly off but it was stuck on his head, his hair having somehow tangled around the tag, and he muttered pathetically through the fabric, "Help."

She groaned but got up to help him anyway. Scooting forward on her knees, she pointedly did _not_ think about all the times she had imagined ripping his clothes off and instead helped him untangle his beautiful mess of hair from the shirt. Then she pulled the shirt off of his arms, and he sighed in relief and tossed his hair back in a way that made her want to slap him and kiss him at the same time.

"Thanks," he murmured. Then he glanced down at his lap and asked, "Gimme a hand with my pants?"

"Oh my gosh," she squeaked, "you're keeping your pants on!"

"But they're really tight!"

She sighed and retorted, "Well, that's what you get for buying skinny jeans from the girls' junior section."

"These are - these aren't, these are man jeans!" he sputtered, clearly offended. "Fitted man jeans, dammit."

"Oh, excuse me," she rolled her eyes. "Well, you're on your own with your fitted man jeans."

He whined again but she ignored him, turning away and plopping back over on her side of the bed. She closed her eyes but immediately opened them again when he asked, "You're gonna sleep in that?"

"I don't care what I sleep in, so long as I _sleep_ ," she muttered, but she was lying. The dress she had on, while casual and comfortable to wear out, was gonna be hell to sleep in, and even Bucky knew that.

"C'mere, I'll help you take it off," he said, tugging on her arm.

"No," she groaned, pushing him away. "I'm fine."

He then sighed and took matters into his own hands, reaching to the zipper on the back of her dress and yanking it down. She squealed in surprise, screeched his name and then sat up, trying to hold the dress together and wailing, "Oh my God, you dickhead, I have nothing to change into right now and I'm not even wearing a bra! That's why I was keeping it on!"

"Well fuck, how was I supposed to know that? Here," he tossed her his shirt and it smacked into her back, which was all he could see thanks to how she'd angled away from him. "Just put that on."

Sighing and wanting to slap him again, she grabbed his shirt and started to get up to go change in the bathroom, but it was _not_ gonna happen. She sat back down immediately and panicked for a minute, then turned and told him, "Close your eyes."

He squinted at her. "What?"

"Close your fricking eyes!"

"Oh," he muttered, turning his head away and closing his eyes obediently. She watched him cautiously for a minute before getting changed right there on the side of the bed as quickly as she could. But somewhere in between taking off the dress and sliding his shirt on over her head, he _did_ open his eyes and peek, and once he did, he couldn't look away.

Her dress was on the floor and she was gathering up his shirt in his arms. Her long hair was a gorgeous mess and did nothing to conceal the bare length of her back, the curve of her waist and then the little sliver of the side of her breast that he saw as she pulled his shirt on. That was when he forced himself to look away, swallowing hard and closing his eyes tight just as she turned around and said, "You can look now."

His jeans were _really_ too tight now. He pulled up the blanket over his lap and muttered, "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Doing that to your dress. S'just trying to help. Looked uncomfortable."

She snickered at his drunken, slurred apology. "It's fine, whatever. See you in the morning."

"'Kay," he muttered, watching her turn on her side away from him, wearing nothing but his T-shirt. He clenched his jaw and glanced down at the pile of fabric on top of his lap, taking a breath and closing his eyes in an attempt to ignore his body's reactions and fall asleep. He had no idea that Summer was struggling to do the same thing, neither of them used to being in such close proximity to the other in a situation like this.

Bucky wished he'd just slept on the damn floor. Summer wished he'd just roll over and rip his shirt off of her and _take_ her like he always did in her incessantly filthy thoughts, but neither of them got their wishes that night. Instead they eventually drifted off to sleep laying on opposite ends of the bed, almost falling off for how cautious they were being to stay in their own spot.

It was gonna be a _long_ weekend.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Gah you guys continue to floor me with your response to this story :D I LOVE YOU ALL. THANK YOU so SO much for your reviews and follows, I really hope you all continue to enjoy this :D this next chapter is a bit short for my usual standard, but the chapter after this is going to be probably somewhere around 20k lol so keep an eye out for that. Also, I'm gonna get back to LAD as soon as possible, as soon as I get past some annoying motivation issues that decided to pop up the minute I neared the end of the story lol, so I know it's been awhile but it'll get updated fairly soon. Again, I love you all and thank each and every one of you for reading, you're the BEST, and I'll see you soon! :D**

The following morning, Summer awoke far earlier than she would have liked and with a headache to rival all others. As her bleary mind slowly came back online and her eyes struggled to open, she realized that she was incredibly warm and laying on something fairly hard that was definitely _not_ the bed or a pile of pillows.

When she finally managed to open her eyes and blink them a couple times, she realized with a sudden jolt of horror what - or rather who - she was snuggled up to. It was, of course, Bucky, and she wasn't just cuddled up to him. She was _tangled_ with him.

Using his bare chest as a pillow, her arm was draped over his abs and her leg was thrown over his, and her body was pressed entirely against his. Making matters even worse, his arm was curled around her waist holding her to him, and his hand rested softly on her hip, which was bare thanks to the way that his shirt had ended up bunched at her waist at some point during the night.

 _Oh God_. She should have known that this would happen while sharing a bed with him _drunk_. Obviously at some point in the night she'd gravitated to him like a magnet, and he had been in too deep of a coma to shove her off or roll her back to her own side of the bed.

The only tiny sliver of a silver lining was that she hadn't drooled all over him. That was the only thing about the entire ordeal that wasn't horrifying. At least she'd spared herself that indignity.

Carefully, trying her best not to wake him, she pulled her leg off of his. Then she pulled her arm off of his abs - those hard, defined things that she wanted to lick like a Popsicle whenever she caught a glimpse of them - and, having not woken him up thus far, lifted her head from his chest. She took a moment to take in his serene, handsome face, utterly peaceful and oblivious to the world, and he didn't stir as she pulled away from him.

So far, so good. Maybe she could escape this mess without him ever knowing that they apparently snuggled through the night.

The tricky part was getting his hand off of her hip and unwinding his arm from around her. He had long, perfectly shaped and proportioned fingers that she had wanted to feel on her body in this sort of way for _forever_ , but she didn't have the guts to just let them stay there and hope they'd drift somewhere even better when he woke. She knew that wouldn't happen, so she gently took his hand and pried it away.

Everything was fine and she was halfway to safety when he groaned and turned in the midst of her trying to lay his arm down on the bed. His other arm shot out and wrapped around her waist, and before she knew it, he was spooned behind her and he was holding her close, her back to his chest, and she was trapped.

Her eyes went wide with panic. He let out a sleepy groan and buried his face against her neck, and she was pretty sure that she was gonna have a heart attack and die any minute.

Laying stone-still and not knowing what the heck to do, Summer briefly considered just staying where she was and enjoying it while she could. But as tempting as that idea was, she also felt horrendous from her hangover and really needed to get up and find some medicine, and even more importantly, the longer that she laid there the longer she risked the mid-morning snuggle session becoming a much more awkward situation thanks to the way that her hips were pressed quite snugly into his. One involuntary push from him and she would simply just expire on the spot.

So, not seeing any better options, she patted his arm as it continued to hold her against him. "Um... Bucky?"

He barely audibly groaned and held her tighter, and she could feel his mouth as it pressed to her neck and he muttered, "Go back to sleep, baby."

Her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head with sheer despair, Summer patted his arm more urgently this time. "Bucky, I'm not... it's _me_."

She felt his lashes flutter against her skin as he opened his eyes. Then he let go of her as if his hands were on fire.

"Shit, I'm sorry," he muttered, voice thick with sleep as he rolled away from her on his back. His warmth gone, Summer tried to be relieved but instead she just wanted to crawl under the covers and never come back out. He had _liked_ holding her like that until he realized who she was.

 _Just twist the knife some more, why don't you_.

"It's okay," she muttered, finally able to pull his shirt down over her hips.

"What time is it?" he asked, hair an absolute wreck that he'd need to spend some time detangling later and eyes squinting as he tried to feel around the bedside table for his phone.

"Almost 9," she replied, sitting up and making it a point not to look at him. She was embarrassed and a little hurt, her brain shooting all kinds of irrational thoughts at her and not helping the pounding headache at all.

"Too early," he groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes. Summer ignored him and got up, kneeling down on the floor where her suitcase was and desperately trying to find some clothes or at least a pair of pants. But between her pounding skull and the embarrassment making her literally sweat, she couldn't focus long enough to find anything. She ended up just grabbing the first thing she found, which was a floral sundress, and then hurriedly stood up so she could disappear into the bathroom.

Bucky dropped his arm on her way there and peered at her as he asked, "You okay?"

She paused and glanced at him, looked away, and then forced herself to nod and reply, "Yeah, fine, just... hungover."

He nodded and sat up, dragging a hand over his eyes. "Sorry about that whole... thing... a minute ago. Didn't mean to... do that."

"No, I know." _Of course I know you didn't mean to_. "It's okay. Probably forgot where you were and thought I was some cute girl you brought home."

Bucky didn't smile or laugh at that. Instead he nodded slightly and furrowed his brows a little, mouth opening like he wanted to say something, but he didn't say a word. Summer then decided to flee, feeling incredibly self-conscious wearing just his shirt, and as soon as she was safely in the bathroom with the door shut, she let out a deep breath of relief and let her head fall back against the door.

Meanwhile, after watching her leave and trying not to salivate over how good she looked in just his T-shirt from last night, Bucky rolled his eyes at himself and dropped his face into his hands, muttering lowly to himself, " _Fuckin' idiot_."

Summer flipped on the shower, turning the water almost as hot as it would go and trying to avoid looking at her reflection in the mirror. She felt like a mess, sort of wanting to cry and wanting to laugh at the same time, already an anxious mess thanks to what awaited her that evening and now just wanting to bang her head into the wall until everything started to make sense again.

His scent filled her nose when she took his shirt off, and it made her want to strangle him with it. He was possibly the very king of mixed signals, going from searing contact and _literally fricking singing to her_ the night before, to waking up seemingly horrified to be snuggling with her and getting as far away from her as he could have, and then _apologizing_ for it.

She decided as she stepped into the shower under the nearly scalding spray that she would just stop trying to read into things and accept that he didn't like her the way that she liked him. Sometimes she let her friends fill her head with false hope that maybe he wanted her too, but she was officially done with that. He didn't want her. He saw her as a friend and nothing else. They would hold hands later and giggle and act like the cutest damn couple in the room, but once it was over, it would be over for good. She just had to live with that.

After taking a relatively short shower, letting the hot water beat down on her head and relieve the pounding a bit, Summer turned off the water and tried to hurry through dressing and brushing her teeth. She couldn't imagine Bucky felt much better than she did, so she didn't want to hog the bathroom for too long.

Once she was done, dressed, and still feeling like crap in more ways than one, she unlocked the door and opened it - and walked right into Bucky, who had been standing on the other side of the door about to knock and ask if she was almost done yet.

"Oh shit, sorry." Bucky chuckled upon the collision, hands going to her waist automatically to keep her from tripping or stumbling back. She forced out a laugh, immediately noticing the fact that Bucky was still shirtless and wanting to scream at that point. "I was just about to knock."

"Oh, yeah, it's okay," she smiled, sidestepping him and escaping his arms. She gestured to the bathroom and shrugged, "It's all yours."

"Okay. Oh here," he said, tossing her a bottle of pills. "For your hangover."

She caught it and replied gratefully, " _Thank_ _you_. Feels like there's a jackhammer in my brain."

"Yeah. I knew you'd need them," he shrugged, giving her a small smile. "Oh, Loki texted me while you were in the shower. They wanna meet us for breakfast downstairs in 20."

"Okay," she nodded. "Works for me."

He tossed her another smile and then headed into the bathroom himself, and Summer let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding once she was alone once again. She then found a bottle of water waiting for her on the bedside table, and for some reason, Bucky's kindness and looking out for her only made her want to start mentally wailing all over again.

She sat down and checked her phone after swallowing the pills, finding a text from

Aemilia saying, _Enjoy sharing that bed? ;)_

Summer scowled and typed back, _Bring it up at any point today and I will kill you and make it look like an accident_.

* * *

The day passed by in an anxious, semi-awkward blur. Summer did her best to forget the morning's earlier events and instead focused all of her energy on psyching herself up for the reunion, only mere hours away and inching ever closer with each passing minute.

At lunch, Aemilia tried to feed Summer mimosas to calm her down, but Summer didn't want to touch alcohol again anytime soon. She apparently couldn't handle a hangover as well as she could even a few years earlier, and it was only mid-afternoon when she started to feel more like a human being again rather than roadkill.

And once she was back to full capacity again, that of course meant that it was time to fully invest in freaking out over the dreaded day having finally arrived.

Two hours before the reunion was scheduled to begin, Aemilia and Loki's hotel room was ground zero for getting ready. The girls were in the bathroom, Summer sitting on a little stool as Aemilia curled her hair, and the men were taking turns trying to fix their own hair in the one corner of the room that the girls weren't occupying.

"Shouldn't you have your dress on before I fix your hair?" Aemilia asked, taking her time and expertly curling each section of Summer's long black hair.

"No, I'm putting the dress on last," Summer replied. "Because I'm already sweating buckets and I want to minimize how wet the dress gets."

Smoothing down an unruly little curl behind his ear, Loki glanced at Summer through the mirror and said, "You know, depending on the context, a soaked dress isn't exactly a bad thing."

Aemilia giggled quietly and Summer groaned. "Well, I definitely don't have to worry about _that_ tonight."

Before Loki could respond, Bucky had appeared behind him and was trying to nudge him out of the way. "Come on, man. You've spent like fifteen minutes screwing with your hair, and I have at least three more inches than you do."

"Maybe when it comes to hair, yes, but certainly not anything else," Loki said before stepping away and flashing a grin at Bucky. "All yours."

"Uh huh," Bucky rolled his eyes. "And I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"There's one very quick and simple way to find out," Loki pointed out, grabbing his tie off of a hanger.

"Oh my gosh," Summer squeaked. "Please, everybody, for the love of God, contain your dicks."

"Where's the fun in that?" Loki retorted with an expression of sheer distaste.

"Everybody calm down," Aemilia said, shaking her head with amusement. "She's on edge enough as it is, without... whatever you two were considering."

Stealing a handful of one of Loki's highly expensive bottles of hair product, Bucky slid it through his hair and said, "You know, Summer, I know you're nervous and I completely understand why, but you're gonna walk in there and blow them all away." Then he eyed Aemilia and asked, "Have you _seen_ her dress?"

Aemilia turned and looked at Bucky with disbelief and asked, "Darling, who do you think picked it out?"

Bucky grinned. "You're brilliant."

Aemilia winked at him. "I know."

Summer sighed. "Hopefully it still fits me after I inhaled like three tubs of ice cream last week."

"It'll fit," Aemilia assured her. "Besides, we all know that when you gain weight it goes directly to your boobs, so either way you'll look stunning."

"Best place to gain weight," Bucky noted casually.

That was when Loki reappeared behind him, nudging him to move. "Out of my way. I need to get this tie on."

"I'm not done yet," Bucky replied, batting the other man away.

Loki rolled his eyes, then narrowed them and leaned forward to sniff at Bucky's hair. Then he asked icily, "Did you use my smoothing serum?"

"Is that what this crap is?" Bucky asked, picking up the bottle and looking it over. "When I first saw it sitting here with the fancy label, I thought it was some kind of weird European lube."

Loki scoffed. "As if Aemilia and I would ever need any of that. Now move. And don't touch my things."

"I told you, I'm not done."

"What is there left for you to do with your hair?" Loki asked impatiently. "You either leave it down or you put it up."

Bucky shrugged. "Maybe I'm gonna braid it."

"Braid it - oh please. You've never worn braids in your hair."

"First time for everything," Bucky said, fussing over one particular lock of hair that didn't want to stay behind his ear.

"Now, now, ladies," Aemilia grinned at the men. "No need to fight over who gets to primp in front of the mirror first."

"No, let them keep going," Summer grinned, not even half of her hair done yet. "It's entertaining. And distracting, which is good."

Sick of Bucky taking up all the available space in front of the mirror, Loki sighed and said, "If you don't move, I will stand uncomfortably close to you and literally breathe down your neck until you lose your will to continue annoying me."

"Go for it, man," Bucky shrugged. "If you really wanna get close to me that bad, I'm not gonna stop you."

"Fine," Loki said, stepping up closer until he was all but pressed against Bucky, standing as closely to him as he possibly could and, making good on his threat, literally breathing down his neck. "Perhaps this was your plan all along."

"Yep," Bucky nodded, turning his head and admiring his two day old scruff on his jaw. "You caught me. I'm very confused about my sexuality and need you to help me figure it out."

"You would have to ask my fiancée for her permission first, darling," Loki replied nonchalantly.

"Experiment away, boys," Aemilia said without so much as a glance their way, too invested in what she was doing to look away. Summer, however, was watching the men wide-eyed in the mirror, barely blinking.

"Ah, lovely," Loki grinned. "So, where shall I start? Hmm... you know what you've always struck me as?"

"If you say 'power bottom', I've got news for you, pal," Bucky drawled, still ignoring Loki's obnoxiously close proximity.

Loki chuckled. "No, no. It's just, with all of this _hair_ of yours," he said, causally taking a handful of said hair between his fingers, "I can't help but think you must have quite the kink for getting it _pulled_."

Before the last word had fully left his mouth, Loki curled his hand into a fist and sharply yanked Bucky's head back by his hair. Bucky, having not expected that, let out a sound that made Aemilia break her concentration and look and made Summer audibly gasp.

"I was right," Loki said with clear delight, letting go but still not taking a step back. He then looked at Summer and said, "File this information away for future reference, yes?"

She merely gaped at him while Bucky, suddenly rather flushed, looked briefly at the girls and ran his hand through his hair nervously. He then said, "I, uh... yeah, I'm good now, so you can have the mirror back." He then stepped around Loki, relinquishing his place, and Loki couldn't help but chuckle in victory.

"Your weakness is embarrassing," he said over his shoulder, finally able to fully fix his tie.

"Fuck you," Bucky cheerfully tossed back.

"Life would be so dull without these men, wouldn't it?" Aemilia mused, her focus restored now that her fiancé wasn't yanking around another man's head with a fistful of his hair.

"It really would be," Summer said, shifting a bit on the stool. She was a little sad that Bucky had ran away so quickly before she had a chance to see what else Loki had up his sleeve, but... oh well. Probably for the best.

"So," Bucky said, leaning against the wall and avoiding Loki's reflection in the mirror as he looked at the girls, "remind me again which classmates I gotta watch out for. Which ones were the mean ones?"

"All of them," Summer muttered.

"Not all," Aemilia sighed. "But quite a few. There was Caleb and Joey. They were the resident misogynist, sexist, sex-obsessed frat boy wannabes. They gave Summer her infamous nickname, and they called me everything from Queen Elizabeth to A-Cup Ashley."

Bucky furrowed his brows. "A-cup... that doesn't even make sense."

"They weren't the brightest of the bunch," Aemilia replied. "But they weren't the worst. They were obnoxious and degrading, but the girls were even worse."

"Ugh," Summer groaned, "the _girls_."

"Tracy, Maddie and Nikki," Aemilia said, suppressing a shudder. "They made _Mean_ _Girls_ look like child's play."

"What'd they do?" Bucky asked.

"Substantial and lasting emotional and mental damage," Summer said.

Aemilia sighed. "They made our lives hell, no matter what we did."

* * *

 _Summer was so incredibly proud of her best friend. In fact, she'd never been more proud of another human being in all of her fifteen years._

 _After having just sang her heart out onstage for the school's yearly talent show, performing_ Alone _by Heart, Aemilia returned to the audience and was promptly mauled with a huge hug from Summer. "Oh my gosh!" Summer squealed, squeezing her tight, "You were amazing! Holy crap!"_

 _"I was shaking so bad," Aemilia admitted, smile plastered on her face. "I don't think I've ever been more terrified in my life, but it was such a rush! I can't even describe it."_

 _Summer was in the process of squealing even more when they were interrupted by the distinct mocking laughter of a girl they unfortunately knew all too well. They slowly untangled their arms from each other and looked up as Tracey Kingston and her two minions approached. "Aw, you guys are so cute," she said in a falsely sweet tone. "Are you gonna kiss now?"_

 _Summer rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "No, but she's gonna win the talent show and you're not."_

 _"Oh really?" Tracey smiled. She had sang that night already, a few spots before Aemilia, and while she had a pleasant enough voice for bland pop songs, she was nowhere near Aemilia's level of talent or vocal range. "Well, we'll see. I really doubt they'll let someone with a voice as boring as yours win. But seriously though, I'll go if I interrupted something between you two."_

 _"Well," Nikki, minion number one, remarked next, "it wouldn't surprise me. No boys will go near them, so what else are they gonna do?"_

 _"Even if that was true," Aemilia replied, "who would even care?"_

 _"Sounds like it is true," Maddie, the second minion, grinned. "That's so cute. Who's gonna wear the suit and who's gonna wear the dress when you go to prom?"_

 _Tracey cracked up laughing, and Summer glanced at Aemilia and tried not to care what they were saying. She tried her very best, but she hated being treated this way and mocked for absolutely no reason. It was_ mean _and hurtful, and she had to force herself not to let her eyes tear up._

 _In the midst of the cackling, Tracey's current boyfriend appeared at her side, slipping his arm around her and pecking her lips in a quiet greeting. That was when Summer's heart fell into her stomach and disintegrated, because Tracey's current boyfriend was her crush, Jake._

 _"Oh Jake, wait til you hear what we just found out," Tracey smiled, looking at Summer and Aemilia with glee. "So, Aemilia here and her friend Summer - you know Summer, right? Because she used to have a huge crush on you."_

 _Jake looked at Summer and seemed to hesitate, not knowing what to say or do. Summer, meanwhile, suddenly had the urge to vomit, and Aemilia was glaring daggers at the girls._

 _"Well anyway, I guess because she realized she'd never have you, she decided to become a lesbian," Tracey smiled cheerfully. "And now her and Aemilia are together. Isn't it sweet?"_

 _Aemilia looked at Summer and felt her heart ache at how badly her best friend was being humiliated in front of her crush. She had felt so high before, the terror and thrill of singing in front of the whole school resulting in an adrenaline rush like no other, and it was that same lingering adrenaline that gave her the guts to say what she said next._

 _"You know what, Tracey," Aemilia began, squaring her shoulders and looking the older girl right in the eye, "you are truly, completely, 100% pathetic."_

 _Tracey's grin fell off her face, and she stared at Aemilia in clear surprise._

 _"You're popular. You have good grades. You have the boyfriend every girl in this school wants, but it's not enough for you. You can't feel good about yourself without tearing someone else down first, can you?"_

 _Summer looked at Aemilia in both shock and alarm. Nobody spoke up like this to Tracey. Ever._

 _"We've never done anything to make you hate us. You have no reason to bully us like this. And so what if we were together? We're not, and you know that, but what difference would it make? You are a mean, vicious girl," she said, reaching out and taking Summer's hand in her own, "and if you stay like this, you be an old bitter woman someday who will die alone and hated. And you'll deserve it."_

 _She then tugged Summer by her hand and walked them away from Tracey, not looking back and not stopping until they were far away, on the opposite end of the auditorium._

 _Summer was in shock. "Holy crap. I can't believe you just did that!"_

 _"I can't either!" Aemilia giggled, eyes wide and hands shaking. "I just... I couldn't take it anymore. I had to say something."_

 _"She's gonna get you back for that," Summer pointed out. "Like, she's gonna just... bury us both."_

 _"I know," Aemilia sighed. "But it was worth it."_

 _Summer grinned. "Heck yeah it was."_

 _Aemilia ended up placing second in the talent show. Tracey won, mediocre singing and all, and she did indeed step up her bullying game to new heights following Aemilia's outburst._

 _But Aemilia had faith that life wouldn't be like this forever. She kept her head held high and stayed focused on her goals and her dreams, knowing that if she stayed committed and put everything she had into her pursuit of her passion, she wouldn't come in second place forever._

 _And she was, of course, right._

* * *

"Those bitches," Bucky shook his head.

Aemilia laughed, now on the last section of Summer's hair. "Well, Jake broke up with Tracey fairly soon after that. She blamed us, for some reason, so then it was all-out war."

"She had entirely the wrong angle," Loki opined. "The two of would make an exceptionally beautiful couple. I don't see how she could possibly use such an accusation as an insult."

"Exactly," Bucky agreed. "Fuck. I _wish_ you two were a couple. I'd pay to watch you two make out."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Well, nobody saw it that way back then, trust me."

"She's right," Aemilia sighed. "But they found a much more effective way to humiliate us after that."

Bucky cringed. "Do I want to know?"

"I hate reliving this story," Summer sighed.

"So do I," Aemilia said with a light sigh, setting the curling iron aside so she could begin to style Summer's hair into the effortlessly elegant updo she had in mind for her. "But what happened was, Summer and I had become something of a writing team in our spare time."

"What'd you write?"

"... Fanfiction," Summer admitted.

Bucky grinned, and Summer was a bit surprised that he knew what fanfiction was. "Really?"

"She had been writing it before we met," Aemilia explained. "Then once we became friends, I helped her plot her stories and come up with ideas, and sometimes I would co-write certain scenes with her. And eventually we got courageous enough to try to write our first sex scene."

"Oh dear," Loki grinned, glancing at Bucky. "I don't think you've told me this story before."

"No," Aemilia nodded, piling Summer's hair on her head. "I haven't."

"The sex scene itself was... I mean... it wasn't the worst ever," Summer said, "but it was our very first try and it was... not our best. We were giggling and squirming the whole time we wrote it, and I kept trying to chicken out and she wouldn't let me."

"No I wouldn't," Aemilia chuckled. "So anyway, we wrote the blasted scene. I did the editing and emailed her the final product, and from there she posted it online. It actually got a wonderful response, remember?"

Summer nodded. "People had no clue that we were sixteen year old virgins with very little clue of what we were even talking about."

"Exactly," Aemilia grinned. "But, a few days later, Summer made the mistake of leaving her email logged in on one of the school computers."

Bucky's eyes widened. "Oh no. I know where this is going."

Aemilia nodded while Summer visibly cringed. "Tracey found it and went digging through our messages to try to find something to embarrass us with. And she was very successful. She found our sex scene and sent it in a group message to just about everybody in the entire school."

"... You have _got_ to be joking," Loki groaned.

"I wish," Summer muttered. "Everybody read it. They printed out certain sections and plastered them everywhere. My grandma found out about it and grounded me for two months."

"And my mother found out and lost her mind," Aemilia added. "She thought Summer was a bad influence that was corrupting me and tried to force me to end our friendship."

"I think I cried every day for like a month," Summer recalled. "It was literally hell. I never wanted to write again."

"And she didn't write again, for almost an entire year. But I made sure she picked it up again, once everything calmed down. And I didn't let my mother keep us apart, either."

"And it was just really extra horrible because I'm shy enough as it is, you know?" Summer sighed. "Like I can barely say the word _sex_ without blushing and I was like that even before everybody saw me as a smut writing pervert."

Aemilia glanced at Bucky and said, "It undoubtedly contributed to how terribly repressed she is."

"Hey, I've gotten better!" Summer pointed out. "But yeah. And then I got the nickname Kama Sutra. We both did, actually."

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "What did you _write_?"

"It was extremely vanilla," Aemilia assured him. "We didn't even name most body parts. You should have seen the look on Summer's face when she realized she had to type the word _nipple_."

"I still don't like typing that word!" Summer squeaked.

Loki chuckled at the girls' banter before furrowing his brows and asking curiously, "What was the story about? You said it was fanfiction, but of what?"

"Harry Potter," Summer replied vaguely.

"It was of Hermione and Draco," Aemilia giggled. "There was a lot of angst and sexual tension."

"You still got this somewhere?" Bucky asked. "I wouldn't mind giving it a read."

Summer flashed her eyes at him and immediately snapped, "It's still online somewhere but I will cut off my own foot before I ever let you read it."

"Oh come on," he feigned offense. "I _have_ to read it now!"

"No you don't," Aemilia chimed in. "Nobody does."

"You guys are no fun," Bucky pouted.

"Well anyway," Summer said as Aemilia slid a truckload of pins into her hair to secure it, "so that was the worst thing Tracey ever did to us. By the time we graduated and were heading to college, _oh my God_ I was so ready to leave and never see any of them again."

"But now that we are," Aemilia smiled, putting the finishing touches on Summer's hair, "revenge is going to be sweet."

"I hope so," Summer replied. "Or it'll be humiliating all over again."

"That's not gonna happen, for either one of you," Bucky told both girls. "I won't let it. And I'm sure Loki isn't either."

"Indeed," Loki agreed. "Tonight shall be your night of triumph."

Summer blinked. "That's... very dramatic sounding."

"Loki's the most dramatic of drama queens," Aemilia smiled, patting Summer's shoulder. "All done. Go get your dress on and finish getting ready."

Summer thanked Aemilia profusely for her help, then darted out of their room and back into hers to get into her dress and heels and put the finishing touches on her makeup. She didn't feel any less nervous for having relived all of her worst high school memories, but she did feel a sense of comfort that she would have her best friend by her side, just like always, and that they would each have remarkable and fiercely protective men there to support them.

Once she was in her dress and had slipped into her heels, she texted Aemilia to come and help zip her up since she couldn't fully do it on her own. But when she heard the door to her room open and close, it wasn't Aemilia who came wandering towards the bathroom to check if she was ready to leave yet.

"Hey, are you... oh."

Face flushing with embarrassment, Summer fidgeted a bit and completely missed the way that Bucky momentarily stared at the soft and smooth skin of her mostly bare back. "Uh... I thought you were Aemilia, but..."

"No, she's... her and Loki are almost ready to leave," Bucky replied. Then he stared at her like an idiot before stepping closer. "I can zip you up, if you want."

"Okay," she replied in an embarrassingly quiet tone, turning and closing her eyes as she willed her suddenly leaping heart to calm itself down. She felt his fingers brush against her lower back, probably accidentally, as he grasped the zipper. Then, after he dragged it up, he fastened a tiny hook and eye that secured the dress, and then his hands were gone.

"Done," he said, almost as quietly as her last words had been, taking a step back to give her some space.

"Thanks," she smiled shyly, turning and feeling her heart continue to hammer in her chest as he looked her over. She was all ready now, and she waited nervously for the verdict as he took everything in from her hair to her shoes and everything in between.

" _Wow_ ," he smiled, shaking his head and meeting her eyes. "You look... _fucking amazing_."

If she had blushed any deeper, her face might have caught fire. "Really?"

"Definitely," he grinned. Then he paused and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you something."

"You did?" she smiled, having no idea as to what it could possibly be.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny bottle of whiskey from Loki and Aemilia's minibar. "Here," he said, handing it over to her. "For the nerves."

Although alcohol still wasn't all that appetizing after the previous night and morning, Summer grinned and gave Bucky a grateful smile as she took the bottle from his fingers. "You know me too well."

"There's two shots' worth in there, so be careful," he grinned as she unscrewed the cap.

"Oh, I'll be fine," she assured him before downing the entire bottle in one impressive series of gulps. Bucky watched her with a grin, looking quite proud after she drank it all and handed the bottle back to him with just a faint wince.

"Better?"

"Hope so," Summer replied. "So are they ready yet?"

"They're leaving in a few minutes," he nodded, "but I had an idea."

Bucky's ideas were always causes for alarm. "What?"

"Well... see, they're gonna have this whole... dramatic entrance, stepping out of Loki's luxury sportscar and all, and I just think you deserve a dramatic entrance of your own. And I'm not sure that climbing out of the backseat will cut it."

She opened her mouth to ask what he had in mind when she suddenly realized exactly where he was going with this. "Bucky, _no_."

"Just hear me out," he said, holding up his hands.

"No! I'm freaking out enough as it is, and you want me to get on your motorcycle with you?!"

"Listen," he said gently, stepping closer and softly taking her shoulders in his hands, "do you trust me?"

"I... yeah, but -"

"Do you trust me to drive you five blocks down to where this reunion's at? Do you think I would ever do anything to put you in danger, Summer?"

She fell silent for a minute and chewed on her lower lip. "No, but..."

"You deserve your own moment, Summer," he told her, tone awash with sincerity that she couldn't deny. "And I, for one, think that showing up on the back of my bike looking like the hottest fucking badass they've ever seen is exactly the kind of moment you deserve."

Bucky was nothing if not persuasive. Hiding a grin and secretly already won over, she pointed out, "I can't wear a helmet without screwing up my hair."

"It's only five blocks," he replied. "I'll drive slow. I promise, you'll be safe."

"... You promise?"

He nodded solemnly. "I promise."

She exhaled shakily and finally gave in with an anxious little smile. "Okay."

He raised an eyebrow, grinning with delight. "Yeah?"

"Hurry up before I change my mind."

"Yes, ma'am," he grinned before dashing off to grab his leather jacket, the last thing he needed to be ready himself.

Summer couldn't believe what she had just agreed to, but she couldn't argue with Bucky's logic. There was a first time for everything, and this would finally be the first time that Bucky had convinced her to let him take her for a ride.

All she could do at this point was pray and pray hard.

* * *

"Come on, sweetheart," Bucky grinned as he straddled the seat of the bike, clearly enjoying this far too much for his own good. "Hop on and take a ride with me."

Eyeing the thing like it was going to sprout horns and a pointed tail at any minute, Summer glared at Bucky and asked, "Is it too late to change my mind?"

"It's definitely too late for that," Bucky nodded. "Hurry up before we're late."

Sighing and glancing briefly at the cars passing by on the road not too far away, Summer finally threw caution to the wind and walked up to the bike. Tugging her short dress down first as much as she could, she muttered, "I hate you."

"Aw, I'm hurt," he teased, offering his hand for her to hold and help steady herself as she climbed on. She took it and carefully swung one leg over the seat, sitting down and panicking slightly as the realization that she was actually gonna _ride_ this thing kicked in.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna die."

"You're not gonna die," he assured her, letting go of her hand. "But you _are_ gonna have to get a lot closer to me."

She scooted forward a bit. "There."

"Closer than that. Come on, I'm not gonna bite you."

She huffed and slid closer, but it still wasn't close enough, so Bucky reached behind him, grabbed behind her knees, and pulled her fully against him. She smacked into him with a surprised huff, not to mention electric tingles fluttering under her skin where he had touched her.

"There we go," he said, patting her knee. "Now hold on to me."

She took a breath and put her hands on either side of his jacket, grasping it in her small fists, but that only made Bucky groan again. "I said hold on to me," he sighed, taking her wrists and wrapping her arms his middle. " _There_. Now hold on tight, okay? I'm gonna go slow but you still gotta hang on."

She nodded, feeling more than flustered being literally wrapped around him the way that she was. He smelled delicious and he felt even better, and she wondered if maybe she had been rather stupid to miss out on riding with him when it meant getting to be so close to him.

"You good? You still with me?"

"Yep," she smiled when he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Good," he smirked. "This is gonna be fun."

He then turned on the engine and it came to life loudly, filling her ears with the sound and making her nerves burst anew. She held on to Bucky for dear life when the motorcycle started actually moving, and by the time he got on the road, she was clinging to him like a terrified little kitten.

But, to her surprise, about halfway through their short trip, it started to feel less scary and much more fun. She wasn't sure if it was the cool, saltwater-scented wind in her face or the fact that she was holding on to a man that she was desperately in love with as he expertly maneuvered the vehicle through the town and looked disgustingly sexy doing it. Whatever it was, it made her smile and actually start genuinely enjoying herself. She should have let him take her on his bike _ages_ ago.

When Bucky pulled up in front of the hotel where the reunion was being hosted at, Summer spotted Loki and Aemilia walking inside hand in hand like they were strutting down a red carpet. There was a gaggle of folks outside gawking at them, including a few that Summer recognized as former classmates, and for the first time since she had received the invitation to this event, she _didn't_ want to throw up in sheer panic.

Loki and Aemilia had made their dramatic entrance by the time Bucky parked and killed the engine. That was when Summer looked up and noticed that all of the eyes were now on her and disgustingly attractive companion.

He got off the bike first, then offered her a hand to help her off. She took it with a grin, carefully and gracefully getting to her feet, and then Bucky intertwined their fingers and leaned in close to whisper, "Ready to give 'em hell, doll?"

She smiled brightly, partly due to the sudden surge in self-confidence and partly due to that pet name that he occasionally liked to tease her with. "I am _beyond_ ready."

He grinned back and gently kissed her cheek - lingering just long enough not to qualify as a simple friendly kiss - and then he was leading her inside to face her past.

It was gonna be one hell of an interesting night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: okay, giant chapter time! :D one more chapter plus an epilogue left after this, so we're almost done :D I'm excited about this chapter, and I hope SO MUCH that you guys like it, because it took me forever to write and I was beyond relieved when it was over lol.**

 **Two notes - first, the lyrics used in this chapter are original and were written by the glorious midnightwings96, whom I thank SO MUCH for lending her help and being amazing as always. I added like one line to the lyrics but I'm giving her all the credit because she's awesome and she wrote more that didn't make it here, and I just adore her and GAH. But of course, you guys already knew that :D**

 **SECOND note - this chapter contains a lengthy flashback of the femslash variety. That's right, I said femslash lol. So if it's not your cup of tea, just skip over the italicized portion of the chapter :) for those who don't skip it, I hope you, er, enjoy it. Lol. It was new territory for me to wade into, but I had fun with it. Hopefully it turned out all right :D In any case, I love you all and once again, thank you SO MUCH for all the follows and feedback, my gosh I just am incredibly grateful. And without further ado, let us step into the "main event" of the story - the dang high school reunion :D**

On their way inside the hotel, Aemilia glanced over her shoulder and grinned to herself when she saw Bucky and Summer zooming down the street on his motorcycle. Even from afar they looked incredible together, and Aemilia noted as she cast her eyes forward again, "Our plan is working perfectly."

His hand in hers and a small grin on his face, Loki chuckled, "You make it sound as if we're villains hatching evil plans together."

"Well," Aemilia smiled up at him, "if the shoe fits, why not?"

Loki gave her an amused, affectionate smile in reply as they then sashayed into the hotel together. All eyes were on them, they could easily tell, and it was for good reason. Aemilia was in a killer deep red dress that clung to her like it had been made for her, low cut and sleeveless and backless, cut off just above the knee and accentuating her curves and leaving no room for doubt how truly all grown up she was. Loki, meanwhile, was in a well-fitted black and gray suit, black tie and white shirt with his slightly long black hair combed back and curled lightly at the ends behind his ears. It was difficult to tell which of them was supposed to be the arm candy, considering they both looked good enough to eat.

Once inside, they were greeted by a smiling young blonde behind a little welcome desk that had been set up for the event. She smiled up at them brightly as they approached, and Aemilia immediately recognized her as Maddie, one of her and Summer's former tormentors. The name tag on her dress reading _Madison_ confirmed as much.

"Hello!" she chirped cheerfully, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them in a clear attempt to figure out which of them was one of her former classmates. But Aemilia didn't even have time to say hello back before Maddie's eyes suddenly widened on her and she gasped, "I know you!"

Aemilia glanced at Loki and hid a slight cringe, some of her own nerves starting to kick back in for a moment.

"... You're that girl who sings that song! I've seen the video like a million times and I love it! Holy crap, and I bought your album the day it came out!"

Aemilia laughed lightly, her brows raising in surprise. Clearly Maddie had no idea that the lead singer of one of her favorite new bands was also a girl whom she had helped torture in high school.

Then she turned her starstruck eyes on Loki next. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Can I get you a name tag?"

"You may," Loki replied politely, sneaking an amused grin to Aemilia. "But this is _her_ reunion, not mine."

Maddie blinked. "Oh!" She blinked again and paused. "Really?"

"Yes," Aemilia smiled sweetly, taking the blank name tag that was offered to her. She then grabbed a pen that was sitting on the desk, wrote her name on the sticky part and held it it up so Maddie could see.

The way that Maddie's eyes widened in shock, disbelief, and then slight humiliation was one of the most satisfying things that Aemilia had ever seen in her life.

"Wait... _you're_..."

"Yes I am," Aemilia smiled.

Maddie looked her over as if she still just couldn't quite believe it. "You look... _different_."

"Thank you," Aemilia said with a slightly exaggerated sweetness. "You look exactly as I remember you."

Maddie looked up at her blankly, clearly not sure as to whether or not she meant that in a good way or a bad way. But Aemilia simply smiled and said, "Thank you for the warm welcome," then turned and walked away with Loki's hand in hers. Maddie stared after them both the entire time, looking at Aemilia in sheer bewilderment and at Loki like he was possibly the single most attractive man she had ever seen in her life.

"Enjoy that?" Loki asked her with a knowing grin a moment later.

"Immensely," Aemilia grinned back. This was going to be a fantastic night, she was sure of it.

Meanwhile, Bucky and Summer were now on their way inside as well, also hand in hand and looking rather ravishing themselves. Summer noticed a few girls staring at Bucky the way that girls always did whenever he went anywhere, only this time they looked at her with a clear hint of slight jealousy before looking away entirely. She had to try not to smile too broadly.

It might all be pretend, but damn if she wasn't gonna enjoy every last bit of showing Bucky off and striking jealousy into the hearts of all the straight girls present.

For once, Summer felt genuinely felt like she truly looked good. Her dress was gorgeous, a short halter-style black number embellished with beading and achieving an appropriately sexy flair thanks to the curve-hugging fit and sheer materal along the neckline that showed off just enough cleavage underneath to be sexy and still tasteful. The dress was short but not tackily so, and the equally dark high heels she wore placed her just about at eye level with Bucky himself. She rather liked looked over at him and finding them to be the same height.

And Bucky, meanwhile, was to Summer the embodiment of sex itself. Wearing his signature all-black minus the white button down he wore under his leather jacket, he dressed the look up with a black tie and shiny black dress shoes, his long hair down and perfectly windswept thanks to the ride there. He was, quite literally, everything she had ever wanted, and now she got to rub it in everybody's faces.

Not that she was petty or anything.

They walked inside and found the welcome desk, and all it took was one glance for Summer to recognize Maddie as the apparent welcome committee. She looked a bit sour, sort of like she was sucking on a lemon in one of her cheeks, and the look only grew more pronounced once Bucky and Summer approached the desk.

Maddie looked up and this time had no problem recognizing the woman standing in front of her. She plastered on a fake smile and said with clearly false enthusiasm, "Summer!"

Summer smiled right back, glancing at her name tag. "Maddie... or _Madison_ I guess it is now."

Maddie smiled as pleasantly as she could manage. "So good to see you! I like your dress."

"Oh, thanks," Summer replied, noticing the way that Maddie's eyes had flickered to Bucky in the middle of her last sentence and were now stuck on him as if glued there. Heart suddenly speeding up a little out of pure anxiety, Summer then blurted out, "He's my boyfriend." Maddie's eyes flicked over to her, and she flushed with slight embarrassment. "He's... his name is Bucky. And he's my boyfriend."

She could almost feel Bucky mentally shaking his head at her and quite possibly also facepalming.

"... Oh. How sweet," Maddie smiled, handing over two name tags. "Nice motorcycle, by the way. I saw you guys pull up. Didn't know who you were at first."

Summer would have to thank Bucky later for the whole dramatic entrance idea. Maddie then looked Summer over and said, "I'm surprised you came."

Summer's eyes flashed up to hers. "Why wouldn't I?"

Maddie shrugged. "Nothing. I just think you're brave, is all."

Bucky, having been carefully observing the exchange, slid his arm around Summer's waist and said with his eyes on her, "She's always brave. She's even brave enough to come here and show all the assholes who bullied her how badass she turned out." He then glanced at Maddie and asked completely innocently, "Are any of those assholes here?"

Maddie gaped like a fish, stunned into state between stammering and silence. "I... I'm not sure."

Bucky nodded and then smiled, turning back to Summer and giving her a gentle tug. "Well, let's go see if we can find some."

"Okay," Summer giggled faintly, glancing back at Maddie's bewildered face one more time as Bucky steered them away.

"That was kinda fun," she whispered with a giddy little smile as they followed the signs towards the correct room where the rest of the night would take place.

"Thought you'd like that," he grinned back, and after turning a corner, they reached a pair of open double doors and Summer found herself at last arrived to the damn reunion.

That was when a thought that had been bothering her all day resurfaced in Summer's mind, and she brought them to a halt and pulled him back a few steps. "Wait."

He stopped and looked at her with nothing but concern written on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just..." she sighed, wrestling with herself to figure out the best way to voice this particular thought of hers. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, because I don't mean it like that at all. It's just... okay." She took a breath and looked him in the eye. "You're kind of a flirt, you know?"

He furrowed his brows. "... Yeah?"

"I mean, you flirt with everybody. Even me, and I know you don't mean anything by it, but -"

He grew almost a bit pained looking at that comment, frowning slightly. "What are you asking me to do?"

"Just... please don't flirt with anyone," she pled quietly. "Some of the girls I went to school with are really pretty and outgoing and... it just comes so naturally to you, you might not even know that you're doing it."

He sighed and looked her in the eyes. "Summer, I promise you, I'm not gonna flirt with anyone. I wouldn't do that to you."

"I know you wouldn't _mean_ to, but -"

" _Summer_ ," he said more seriously, almost darkly as he continued to maintain that almost unsettlingly direct eye contact. "I'm here for you. You're all I care about, all right? I'm here to help you feel better and feel more confident and get you through this. And I'm not gonna fuck that up."

His sincerity was so breathtaking that Summer suddenly felt bad for doubting him for even a minute. "Okay. I'm sorry."

He shrugged her off, blinking a few times and taking her hand back in his. "It's all right. I get why you'd be worried."

They started walking again. "Still. I'm sorry. I feel like a jerk now."

Before she knew it, he had led her inside the room, and they were now standing in front of a crowd full of her old classmates. He smirked at her and said, "S'okay, baby." Then he brought her hand up to his lips and brushed a kiss on her knuckles, a hint of mischief back in his eyes, and she had to force herself not to gulp.

No turning back now. It was time to put on a show and finally get this damn reunion over with.

* * *

The reunion officially began with a "cocktail hour" that sounded more fancy than it actually was. Summer, despite the tiny bottle of whiskey that she had downed not half an hour before, was more than ready to drink away her fluttering nerves, so she found Aemilia while Bucky briefly left her to get drinks.

It appeared that Loki was up to the same thing as Bucky, as Summer found Aemilia by herself just outside of the main crowd of people.

"Well, this is more crowded than I thought it would be," Summer remarked, standing next to Aemilia and fiddling with the name tag that she still hadn't put on.

"I know," Aemilia sighed. "It's a remarkably high turnout."

From where Summer was standing, it looked like everybody had changed in some way. Of those that she recognized, most of them were either bigger or smaller, some in startlingly noticeable ways, and she didn't quite feel like she was standing in a room full of old classmates. It felt mostly like standing in a room full of strangers, at least until one of the men in the crowd glanced their way and then tapped the arm of the man standing next to him.

Summer's eyes widened with recognition. "Is that..."

"Oh no," Aemilia muttered under her breath. "They're coming this way."

" _Frick me,_ " Summer groaned, looking over her shoulder towards Bucky, but he was still waiting for her drink and was of no help or salvation to her.

"Oh my gosh," Caleb said as he walked up to the girls, dressed in a nice suit with a good haircut and looking nothing like the idiot they remembered. He smiled at them and said, "Holy crap, it's you guys!"

"It's us," Aemilia smiled, feeling a bit uneasy herself as she watched Joey join the other man at his side. Both she and Summer stood there awaiting the men calling them by their old humiliating nicknames, wondering which ones they'd remember. Probably the worst and most demeaning ones.

"Wow, you guys look great," Joey said, looking genuinely impressed.

"Yeah, you do," Caleb agreed. "I was hoping you two would show up."

"I can only imagine why," Aemilia sighed, prepared to tell them off and stomp away at the first sign of disrespect.

"No, no, it's not what you think," Caleb replied. "We were actually just talking about you two the other day."

"And how we used to call you all kinds of stuff," Joey added.

"If you plan on resurrecting those demeaning and ridiculous old nicknames, save your breath because I won't stand here and listen to it," Aemilia replied quite bluntly.

"Oh _God_ no," Caleb replied, aghast. "We wanted to apologize."

Summer and Aemilia both stood there and stared at the men in shock. "Really?" Summer asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, we were idiots," Joey replied.

"We really were. We both had older brothers for role models and we copied everything they did, the good and the bad," Caleb explained. "We didn't really think about how what we said and did would affect anyone else. We just wanted people to think we were tough and... cool, I guess."

Summer blinked, briefly sharing a look with Aemilia who appeared as stunned as she was.

"Yeah, so... we're very sorry," Joey told them both. "When I think back on how we treated the two of you especially, it makes me feel like the world's biggest loser."

"Well," Aemilia said, "you two weren't actually the worst that we had to deal with, believe it or not."

"Still," Caleb shrugged.

Summer stared at them and muttered, "... How did you guys... like..."

"... Stop being giant dickheads?" Caleb guessed with a smile. "Well, we went to college together in California. First girl we tried to tease punched me in the face."

"His nose is still slightly crooked from it," Joey added.

"Yeah. That was kind of a wake up call. We kind of just realized how stupid we had been and... well, we grew up. Learned how to treat people better and have respect. Then we graduated, got married, got jobs..."

It was then that Loki and Bucky rejoined their women, putting drinks in their hands and standing at their sides. "Oh, where are your wives?" Aemilia asked curiously, raising her glass of red wine to her lips as Summer did the same with her white wine.

"Oh, no," Caleb chuckled, patting Joey on the shoulder. "We married each other."

Both girls then promptly choked on their drinks, and Loki grinned at the two strangers and chirped, "Congratulations!"

"Mazel tov," Bucky raised his glass to the men, having no clue who they were.

"You're both _gay_?" Summer nearly exclaimed, coughing a little and staring at the men wide-eyed. "Four years of calling me Funbags and acting like you were banging all the girls in school and you're both gay?!"

"Well, we didn't realize it at the time," Joey shrugged. "Or... well, maybe we kind of did, which might have been why we overcompensated so much, but..."

"Wait," Loki said, "these are the men who tormented you both?"

"Yes," Aemilia said before introducing them to Loki and Loki to them, doing the same for Bucky when Summer appeared too shocked still to do it herself.

"We're very sorry," Caleb reiterated for the sake of the men. "We were just explaining to them why we were such losers before. There's no excuse for it, but... we were just... very confused and very stupid teenaged boys."

"We forgive you," Aemilia told them, smiling understandingly. "We were all kids and high school isn't easy for anyone. It takes courage to apologize as you just did, so... thank you. And congratulations."

They both grinned, taking each other's hands lovingly as Joey remarked, "Hey, you too! We're huge fans. We bought your album last week."

"The deluxe online edition," Caleb added. He then glanced up at Loki and said, "Wow, you're even hotter in person."

"Indeed I am," Loki grinned, incorrigible as ever.

"Thank you," Aemilia chuckled. "I wasn't sure very many people would recognize us."

"We've watched the video for _Ruin_ like a hundred times, so," Caleb shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, and he's got a big crush on the trumpet player," Joey added.

"Clint?" Aemilia chuckled. "That's fantastic!"

"His face is so squishy," Caleb grinned, looking slightly embarrassed. Then he glanced at Summer, who was watching the whole exchange with rapt attention, still hardly believing any of it, and he also glanced at Bucky before saying, "Looks like you did pretty well for yourself, too."

Summer blinked in confusion for a moment before remembering the whole fake boyfriend thing. "Oh! Yeah, yeah I have," she smiled, glancing at Bucky. "My... super hot boyfriend."

Bucky merely scoffed quietly and casually wrapped his arm around her. "Nah, I'm the lucky one."

"Aw," Joey smiled, and Summer still couldn't get over how these guys were now apparently respectful, sensitive, decent men now. "How long have you two been together?"

"Six months," Summer smiled, the lie now sounding almost natural rolling off her tongue.

"How'd you two meet?" Caleb asked, and as soon as the words left his mouth, Summer panicked.

She suddenly couldn't remember her own made up story. It was as if under all the stress and confusion and mild distress of the last day or two, her brain simply decided to utterly fail her. Her mind went blank and she looked at Bucky and stuttered, "Uh... well, we..."

He stared back at her with equal panic for half a second, just long enough for her to realize that he couldn't remember either, but then he schooled his features and opened his mouth to save them both from humiliation.

"We met during an interview," he replied, eyes on the two men as Summer watched him. "She was writing a piece for the _Times_ about PTSD in military vets. And since I'm both a vet and a psychologist, she thought I was worth interviewing."

Summer's eyes widened fractionally, but not enough for anyone around them to notice. He was telling the _real_ story of how they met.

"Oh wow," Caleb said. "You're ex-military?"

Bucky nodded. "Army paid for my degrees and I served two tours in Afghanistan. Wasn't easy, but... got me to where I am today. Wouldn't have met her otherwise," Bucky grinned, hand resting comfortably but firmly on her waist.

"So it all started with an interview," Joey said, smiling at them both.

"That's right," Bucky grinned. "See I was running a little late that day, 'cause I actually forgot about the interview. My memory's not the best ever since Afghanistan. I got this head injury when an IED hit my convoy, literally left part of my skull over there -"

Caleb and Joey's eyes widened. " _Dude_ ," the former said, "I'm sorry, man."

"Thanks," Bucky shrugged. "I'm used to it now, but it does make things inconvenient when I forget appointments and other things. But that's why I was late, so I jumped on my bike and hurried down to the VA. She was already there waiting, of course, 'cause she showed up fifteen minutes early."

Summer smiled nervously. "Better early than late, right?"

Bucky grinned and continued with the story. "So I finally get there, apologize about five times, and then we sat down and she started asking her questions. She was wearing this pretty little blue dress and her hair was up, looked professional and everything, but there was this one little piece of hair that kept falling in her face. And the way that she kept pushing it back behind her ear over and over was just... I thought it was adorable."

Even Loki was smiling now, and Summer was watching Bucky recount the story in disbelief. Here was a man who could never remember what he'd had for breakfast and left sticky notes around his house to remind him of tasks and appointments that he would otherwise forget, and yet he remembered the color of her dress and the style of her hair from when they had first met over two years ago. And that was when he'd been engaged to someone else.

"Anyway, she ran her article within the week and it was brilliant," Bucky smiled. "She's got a real talent for what she does, it's incredible. And it we kept in touch after that. Took me awhile to get my act together and ask her out, but... I finally did."

He turned and smiled at her after those last few words, and Summer had to admit that she'd never heard a more beautiful lie in her life. But something in his eyes was so soft and _real_ in that moment that she could almost believe that he had meant every word that he'd said and that he remembered those little details from their first meeting because deep down, he really did love her the same way that she loved him.

But the moment came to an end, like all moments did, and after a bit more small talk between the small group, Summer started nursing her wine a bit more determinedly. Bucky was always touching her in some way, if not holding her hand then having his arm around her waist or fixing a stray lock of hair for her. He was incredibly attentive and so entirely focused upon her, and she loved it so much that she absolutely hated it at the same time.

Eventually the bullies-turned-good guys had to move on and catch up with a few others, and Aemilia convinced Summer to go and "mingle" with her a bit more. They chatted with a few former classmates who _hadn't_ hated or tormented them, one of whom was now married with a whopping five kids and insisted on showed them more baby pictures than they could count.

It wasn't so bad, Summer began to think after some time had passed. The wine was decent and nobody had been mean to her yet (aside from Maddie), and she had even made peace with two of the people who had helped make her high school career so awful. It was fun watching everybody walk by and eye Loki with a mixture of slight fear and awe, because that was the natural reaction to his presence everywhere he went, and Aemilia seemed to be quite enjoying herself as well. Plus there was Bucky and his constant touching, and that was a rather huge benefit.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe she had been silly to have been so worried the whole time. Maybe -

"Oh dear God," Aemilia muttered near Summer's ear just when she had been on the verge of enjoying herself. "Look who's coming over here."

Summer looked up and had to suppress a groan. It was Tracey, the meanest of the mean girls, one of the single worst human beings she had ever had the displeasure of knowing. And she was smiling as if they were old friends and heading straight for them.

"Who's that?" Bucky asked quietly.

"Satan," Summer muttered back.

"Hi!" Tracey chirped, smiling happily at them and coming to a halt a polite distance away. "I had no idea you two were coming!"

Aemilia flashed her a fake smile right back and said, "Well, we were invited, just like everyone else."

"Yeah, but I had no clue you'd actually show up," Tracey smiled, looking from Aemilia to Summer and then to their men. "Hi."

Aemilia was about to begrudgingly introduce Loki when he saved her the trouble and held out his hand to Tracey and said, "I'm Loki, you may have heard of me."

"Oh, I've definitely heard of you," Tracey smiled, just on the borderline of inappropriately flirtatious as she shook his hand. Then she eyed Aemilia and said, "You two are quite the big deal now. I saw your picture in an Us Magazine last week."

"Comes with the territory of having a number one single," Aemilia shrugged, thoroughly enjoying herself.

Tracey smiled somewhat bitterly and then turned to Summer next. "So I heard you're an intern at the _Times_ now?"

"I got an internship after college," Summer corrected her. "Now I'm a staff writer." She then gestured to Bucky and said, "And this is Bucky. Bucky, this is Tracey, my old... classmate."

Tracey didn't bother for a handshake, so Bucky didn't either. But he did throw on his best charming smile and say, "Pleasure to meet you."

She smiled back and then turned back to Aemilia and said, "You know, I came close to signing a record deal of my own a few years ago."

"Did you?" Aemilia asked, genuinely surprised. Tracey may have won the school talent show ages ago, but her depth of talent wasn't much to speak of.

"Yep. And I would have signed it and had my own top ten hit by now, but the head of the label wanted to sleep with me first, so... I walked away from that."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aemilia replied, meaning it that time. No matter how much she despised Tracey, no woman deserved such despicable treatment.

Tracey shrugged, eyed Loki pointedly and said, "Well, not everybody shares my unwillingness to sleep their way to the top, obviously."

Summer, who had been lifting her wine glass to her lips, slowly began to pull it back down as she stared at Tracey with outrage. Aemilia blinked, wondering why she was surprised that Tracey was still obviously as vile as she had always been, but Loki was the one to open his mouth first and answer Tracey's statement in a way that she would never forget.

"I'm afraid that you are mistaken, dear," Loki said calmly and casually, always preferring to attack in ways that left the victim unaware that they were even being attacked until after it was over. "While we all know that such things are not rare in the music industry and quite a few other industries, when I found Aemilia I warned her of powerful men who would try to take advantage of her as you nearly were yourself. I told her that even if they didn't try to force favors from her in return for work, they would try to exploit her beauty and control everything from the sound of her music to the color of her hair and what she wore. I offered her the chance to be herself and be in control of her own brand, with my expertise as guidance. She was wary of me at first, as she should have been, but in time she agreed. And her success has spoken for itself, don't you think?"

Tracey listened to him with slightly wide eyes, that same mixture of awe and slight fear on her face that Loki seemed to cause with everyone, but she still managed to reply, "Do you think anyone _actually_ believes that?"

"I don't particularly care what people choose to believe," Loki replied. "It's human nature to believe what one _wants_ to believe. But the truth is that I took this little artist under my wing and nurtured her, mentored her and gave her the tools that she needed to succeed, and nothing else. I showed her the utmost of respect even when she was unknowingly driving me absolutely mad and making her desire her in ways I had never desired anyone before. And when our relationship finally did become more than strictly professional, it was by _her_ own choice and it influenced nothing else. I can promise you that. Others can be as petty and accuse us of whatever they like. I don't need to defend Aemilia's honor against those who have none, because she is more than capable of doing so herself and frankly... you are beneath us."

Aemilia smiled at Loki, adoring the way that he could sing her praises and so elegantly shut another person down all in the same breath. Summer was nearly swooning herself and Bucky was watching Tracey and waiting for her to either explode or huff and stomp away. She did neither.

"Well, nobody would believe you," Tracey replied, though she suddenly found it impossible to look either Aemilia or Loki in the eye.

" _I_ believe him," Summer grinned. "Trust me, it's all true."

Tracey then gave her a look of sheer distaste and all but spat, "Oh, _please_. You still follow her around like a lovesick puppy," she gestured to Aemilia. "It's actually kind of pathetic. Neither of you have changed at all."

"Actually, we have," Aemilia replied calmly. "But you clearly haven't."

"I never needed to," Tracey replied. Then, just because she hadn't been enough of a witch, she then looked at Summer and asked, "Still write disgusting porn with your little lover right here?"

She wasn't referring to Bucky, of course. She was referring to Aemilia, and Summer took a deep breath to try to calm herself as she formulated a response. Bucky gave her hand a tug, trying to get her to just walk away and not give Tracey the satisfaction of a reaction, but Summer hadn't come all this way to not get the last word.

"Did you guys know that they were the token lesbians in our school?" Tracey asked, clearly quite desperate and embarrassing herself at that point. "Neither of them ever dated any boys. Summer dressed like a guy half the time, and they were joined at the hip 24/7. Hardly ever even denied it when I'd tease them about it."

Tracey then stared at Summer, just daring her to say something back. But Summer stayed silent until Tracey glanced at Bucky, then back to her and asked, "Do you even know what to _do_ with a man?"

And just like that, all of the torment and torture and days that she had gone home from school crying and feeling like a worthless loser all swirling around in her head and making her feel like she was right back in the middle of that hell, Summer snapped. She was sick of it, sick of Tracey and people like her, and sick of feeling like that nervous, insecure teenager that she had never fully grown out of.

"You know what?" Summer began, throwing caution to the wind. "Yes, I do know what to do with a man. Shocking, I know. And I also know what to do with a woman, and you know why? Back in college, me and Aemilia got drunk one time and we hooked up. That's right. And we did everything. _Everything_."

Tracey's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull with shock. Aemilia turned and stared at Summer with enormous but amused eyes, quite shocked that she had actually just said that out loud at all, let alone in the middle of their high school reunion. Loki wore an almost identical expression on his face, and Bucky... _well_ , he was staring open-mouthed at Summer in the best kind of shock possible.

"So... yeah," Summer said, looking around and face flushing as it began to sink in that she had actually just _said_ that. "We're not lesbians. We prefer men, _obviously_ ," she waved a hand in Loki and Bucky's directions, "but yes, we did.. um... we..."

"... Had an incredibly long and satisfying night of extremely hot sex," Aemilia finished for her, grinning and delighting at the utterly lost and defeated look on Tracey's face. "So please, do keep trying to tease us about something that doesn't embarrass or bother either of us in the slightest."

Tracey looked back and forth between the girls for a moment and finally made a noise of complete frustration as she turned on her heel and stomped off, at last fully silenced. Summer and Aemilia watched her walk away and then looked at each other before bursting into giggles, the latter telling the former, "I can't believe you said that!"

"It just came out," Summer laughed, her face beet red. "Holy crap, I just actually _said that._ "

"Wait a minute," Bucky said, holding up a hand and looking at the girls as if the matter at hand was of the single most utmost importance in the entire world. "You two... in college...?"

"Well, I wasn't lying," Summer admitted, her blush intensifying.

His jaw hung open. "You two _actually_ had sex."

"Yes," Aemilia confirmed, watching Bucky in clear amusement.

His eyes flickered to and from each girl before settling on Summer as he groaned, "Why am I only _just now_ hearing about this?"

Summer sighed. "Because I knew you'd react like this, honestly."

He paused before declaring solemnly, "... I need details."

"And I need more wine," Summer smiled at him overly brightly, handing him her empty glass. "Get me more?"

"But-"

"Oh, come along, darling," Loki said, walking around the girls and nudging Bucky's shoulder. "Our ladies deserve a drink after _that_."

Loki then all but dragged Bucky away, and Summer and Aemilia both laughed at his forlorn expression as he went. "I'm guessing you told Loki," Summer said, "since he doesn't seem to be surprised at all."

"Oh yes, I told him," Aemilia smirked. "I _definitely_ told him."

"... There's a story behind that, isn't there?"

Meanwhile, as Loki sidled up to the open bar, Bucky stared at him at his side and accused him, "You already knew, didn't you?"

Loki signaled the bartender and then eyed Bucky with amusement. "Of course I did. There's no secrets between Aemilia and myself."

Bucky groaned. "You gotta give me something, man. I'm dying here."

"Well, suffice it to say that Summer wasn't jesting when she used the word _everything_ ," Loki replied.

"Everything as in... _everything_?"

"It would seem," Loki said quietly, leaning in closer so Bucky would hear, "that both ladies possess rather talented tongues, according to Aemilia."

Bucky's breath caught in his throat. "Holy fuck."

Loki grinned. "Oh and also, Summer is apparently rather fond of dirty talk."

Bucky's eyebrows shot into his hairline. " _She_ talks dirty?!"

"No, she enjoys hearing it," Loki clarified with a chuckle. "Perhaps you ought to keep that in mind in case a particular opportunity presents itself."

Bucky dragged a hand over his face, wanting nothing more than an opportunity like the one Loki spoke of, but... he was trying to stay focused and _not_ think about such things. "How long have you known?"

"Well, I had to take a trip out of the country earlier this year. I was gone for a few weeks, so naturally phone sex became a necessity."

"Naturally," Bucky remarked dryly.

"One night she decided to tell me the entire story from start to finish. Every last detail of what occurred between them that night, from the first kiss to... well, I'll let Summer tell you tell you how it ended, since it's their story to tell, after all. Not mine."

Bucky made a faint noise of pure and utter misery.

"Anyway. Aemilia has a rather filthy way with words when she wants to, and coupled with the _very_ vivid images that she filled my mind with..." He grinned in recollection and shook his head slightly. "I've never come so hard by my own hand until that night."

"... You're killing me here."

Loki chuckled, giving Bucky a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Just ask Summer for the full story later, once you're back in your cozy bed that you're sharing."

"She won't tell me," Bucky muttered, leaning on the bar and watching the bartender flit about, getting their drinks ready. "Getting that out of her would be like pulling teeth."

Loki hummed in contemplation. "Then perhaps you should ask her nicely. Get her in the right sort of _mood_ to tell such a story. Am I being too vague? Perhaps I should spell out what I'm suggesting."

"I know what you're suggesting," Bucky muttered.

"Well, you ought to listen for once. Because you're playing a rather dangerous game that you will lose if you continue to do nothing." When Bucky looked at him in confusion, Loki waved a hand in Summer's direction. " _Look_ at her. How much longer do you think you can string her along before someone else catches her eye and gives her what you won't?"

"I'm not stringing her along."

Loki gave Bucky a knowing, unimpressed look. "She's waiting for you. You _know_ that. But she won't wait forever. You also know that. I honestly don't understand why you won't put an end to this ridiculous dance that you two insist on suffering through and just _claim_ her."

"Because I don't..." Bucky began and then immediately stopped, clenching his jaw and looking away. "I don't know. I just..."

"You're afraid to fail," Loki stated simply, as if he could read Bucky's mind. "You're afraid that if you make a move and your relationship with her changes, you'll screw it up and lose her entirely."

Bucky glanced at Loki and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, who's the shrink here, you or me?"

Loki chuckled. "I'm merely perceptive. And you are as easy to read as an open book when it comes to her."

Bucky smiled a little sadly. "She doesn't seem to notice."

"She does," Loki replied. "She just doesn't believe it."

That made Bucky's expression grow even sadder. But then their drinks arrived, and the impromptu heart to heart was over. Loki gave him an encouraging nod, and Bucky took a deep breath and mentally slipped back into the role of loving and devoted boyfriend as he took Summer's drink to her.

* * *

As Tracey sullenly hung out with her fellow mean girls and glared the occasional dagger or two at Summer and Aemilia, cocktail hour drew to a close and the party officially began. A live band took the small stage and provided lively covers of older and current hits as most of the former classmates began to get a little drunker and therefore quite a bit happier.

In Summer's mind, she had already looked her doom in the eyes and emerged victorious. She had already faced the worst of her old bullies and had come out the other side unscathed, and she was actually grateful that Aemilia had talked her into coming. She was having actual, real fun, and once the music started playing and Aemilia convinced her to dance with her, she even stopped mentally counting the minutes until she could leave.

Against all the odds, her high school reunion had actually turned out to be kind of awesome. She danced with Aemiilia and giggled up a storm, ignoring the snickers and looks of Tracey and the other girls who undoubtedly had been informed of Summer's impromptu confession. She simply didn't care what anyone thought of her anymore, especially people like _that_.

Bucky came along and stole her for a dance next, and dancing with him was always quite the experience. He was an enthusiastic and energetic dancer, always smiling and picking her up and tossing her around, making her laugh until her sides hurt, and this time was no exception. Between them and Loki and Aemilia, each couple was getting equal amounts of jealous glares from the haters and fond smiles from those who didn't despise them.

In the middle of all the fun, Maddie took to the stage to announce that soon it would be time to vote for "Reunion King and Queen". Summer had no idea that was even a thing, but the very minute that the words hit her ears, she looked at Aemilia with a rather evil grin on her face.

"I am totally voting for you guys," Summer immediately declared.

"I know who I'm voting for, too," Aemilia replied with an equally mischievous grin.

Summer rolled her eyes and dragged Bucky off to the ballot box. It was obvious who the winners would be, since there was only one legitimate and disgustingly attractive celebrity couple there. Loki and Aemilia deserved the title, that much was for sure.

Caleb had been designated as the official vote counter, and he stood by the box to watch and make sure nobody cheated. Summer and Aemilia cast their votes together, laughing at the absurdity of it all and then heading back to rejoin their men once their votes were cast. It was simply by chance that as they weaved their way through the crowd, Summer tripped over someone else's feet and proceeded to slam into the back of some guy who had been walking by in front of her.

"Oh God, I'm sorry!" Summer exclaimed, immediately righting herself and getting back on her feet, grasping Aemilia's hand for balance. As the man turned around, she continued to babble, "I wasn't watching where I was going and -"

She fell silent as soon as he turned around and their eyes locked. It was Jake, her high school crush and the great unrequited infatuation of her teen years. And he looked pretty damn good ten years later. "Summer?"

"Jake," she muttered, wide-eyed and suddenly feeling like she was fifteen all over again. "Hi!"

"Hi," he smiled, looking at her like he had never truly seen her before that moment. "Wow! You look... amazing."

Summer grinned like an idiot. "So do you!"

Next to her, Aemilia watched them carefully and greeted Jake politely when he turned to her next. But his eyes kept flitting back to Summer, who was now blushing and feeling sort of like she was suffocating and also high on about five cans of Red Bull.

Facing one's old crush was never easy, but when they looked even better than you remembered and were looking at you like they suddenly just realized that you were actually quite hot, it was definitely not a bad thing.

"How've you been?" Jake asked, not being particularly subtle in how his eyes were drawn to the partially sheer material of her dress near her bust.

"Good!" Summer giggled. "Really good, actually. What about you?"

"And what about your wife?" Aemilia asked sweetly, and the brief pleasant daze that Summer had been enjoying burst like a popped balloon. "How is she?"

Jake faltered for a moment. "... She's fine. Had to stay home, because she wasn't feeling well."

"... You're married," Summer noted, smiling through her teeth.

"Yes," Aemilia smiled. "I'm friends with his wife on Facebook. She's pregnant with baby number three, yes?"

"... Yeah," Jake smiled tightly, apparently not having wanted this particular information mentioned at the present time. "Yeah, third little bundle of joy on the way."

Summer didn't know why, but she deflated even more. It just figured that he was happily married with a million babies by now, while she was too busy pining over one of her closest friends to even date anyone.

As if that very thought had summoned him, Bucky reappeared at Summer's side just then, a possessive arm sliding around her waist before she barely had a chance to breathe. He nodded at Jake, smiling politely while also glaring at him, and Summer realized she was caught in a very awkward place - between the past and the present of two men whom she had pined over in vain and had wasted more time and energy on than she cared to think about.

It was a depressing thought.

After she politely introduced her "boyfriend" to her old crush, Jake very quickly found an excuse to turn around and flee somewhere else. Summer let out a deep breath she hadn't known she was holding and listened to Aemilia rant about how much of a loser Jake must be to ogle Summer while his pregnant wife languished at home, but Summer barely registered any of it. Jake's sudden appearance had been more than enough to knock the wind out of her and turn her previously happy, triumphant mood rather sour.

Ten years later and she was still stuck in the same place she'd always been. She still wanted someone who didn't want her, and she still had no clue what to do about it other than suffer in silence.

Bucky could tell that something was off. A new drink in Summer's hand, he watched her gulp down a healthy amount and then asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she shrugged one shoulder, shaking her head. "I'm fine. I just..."

"That was the guy you liked, right?"

Summer nodded and blew out a breath. "Yep."

"He was an idiot to ignore you back then."

Summer laughed humorlessly and took another drink. Bucky looked at her strangely, but she ignored him and then muttered, "Well, the world's full of idiots." Then she looked at him and muttered, "Sorry. Seeing him just kinda... I don't know. Giant buzzkill, I guess."

"I get it," he assured her. "It's all right. Don't gotta apologize to me." He gave her a soft smile that managed to make her feel a little better and a little worse at the same time, and then he said, "We could leave, if you want. Head back to the hotel a little early."

She chuckled. "And do what all night?"

He shrugged, looking away and licking his lips as he thought. "We could watch a movie. Drink some more. Play a game. Paint each other's nails, braid each other's hair..."

Summer laughed. "Yeah, right. Last time I tried to braid your hair you whined like a baby until I gave up just so you'd shut up."

"Okay, fine," Bucky conceded, shooting her a grin. "Then I'll let you pick. Anything you want. Name it and it's yours. You deserve it after the week you've had."

Heart aching at those words, Summer stared at the sincerity and affection in his eyes and wondered if maybe this time she could be brave and tell him the truth for once. She could feel it in her bones, the desperate need to open her mouth and finally tell him what she really wanted, the words that she had been holding back for longer than she even knew. She owed them both the truth, and there was no better time than the present to remedy that.

Once she said it, there would be no turning back. But maybe she could hint, say something to test the waters, something innocent enough that she could laugh it off in the next breath if his reaction wasn't what she hoped for.

She drew a deep breath. "Well..."

"... What?" he grinned, bumping her shoulder sweetly. "Tell me."

She looked up at him and smiled, pausing before opening her mouth and...

... Squinting her eyes shut thanks to the giant spotlight that had just landed directly on her face.

"What the fricking - ow," she groaned, covering her eyes with her hand as Bucky did the same thing.

"Sorry," Maddie smiled from the stage, microphone in hand as the spotlight moved, blinded someone else, and then finally turned off. "Little bit of... technical difficulties there. Blame Nikki, she's in charge of lights." She laughed uneasily, failing to make anyone else in the crowd laugh, and then sighed and went on, "Anyway, it's time to crown our Reunion King and Queen."

And just like that, the moment was ruined. Summer took it as a sign from heaven and clamped her mouth shut, ignoring the way that Bucky was still looking at her as she pretended to be completely engrossed in the proceedings.

There were two crowns sitting onstage, and Summer could remember Tracey always been crowned queen of everything back in high school. Things would probably go the same this time around, but she still had her money on Loki and Aemilia.

Aemilia reappeared next to Summer as the results were announced. Loki was with her, grinning at Summer like he knew something that she didn't. She eyed him suspiciously and then turned her eyes back on the stage, where Maddie was excitedly opening an envelope that contained the names of the winners.

When Loki continued to grin madly and Summer caught it from the corner of her eye, Summer leaned closer to Aemilia and asked, "Why is he smiling like a villain who's about to finally kill their archenemy?"

"Let's just say that in addition to all of his many other talents," Aemilia whispered back, "Loki apparently has quite the knack for campaigning."

Summer blinked. "Campaigning for what?"

Onstage, Maddie smiled as she began to flip open the envelope. "And the Reunion Queen and King crowns go to..." Her eyes flickered across the names and her smile fell off of her face. "Summer McAdams and... Bucky... Barnes?"

The damn spotlight fell right back on Summer and Bucky just in time to capture their reactions. Bucky's eyes grew hilariously wide and confused and Summer's jaw unceremoniously dropped. She turned and looked at Loki and Aemilia in shock, and they were both clapping along with the crowd, looking quite satisfied with themselves.

"What did you _do_?!" Summer gaped, even as Bucky took her hand and started tugging her to the stage.

Aemilia shrugged innocently and gave Summer a push. "Nothing! Go get your crown!"

Having no choice but to do exactly that, Summer let Bucky lead her towards the stage and help her walk up the small amount of stairs leading to it. Her face was bright red and she was kind of petrified, never really one for being the center of attention, but apparently there was no way out of this. The people had spoken, and by some odd miracle, she had actually been elected Queen of something for the first time in her life.

She looked out at the crowd with wide eyes, smiling nervously and feeling the slight urge to vomit, but Bucky was as smooth as ever as he grinned and strutted at her side. His hand in hers kept her grounded as she then turned her eyes on Maddie, who was obviously rather disgruntled with having to crown them of all people King and Queen.

With a sigh, Maddie picked up Bucky's crown first. "Here you go," she said without ceremony, moving to put it on his head for him, but he reached out and snatched the crown to put it on himself with a quiet word of thanks. Maddie was fine with that, as evidenced by the way that she then put Summer's crown directly in her hands.

"Here," she fake-smiled. "Congratulations. Not bad for a porn-writing dyke."

Summer smiled right back, saccharine-sweet as she put the crown on her own head. In that moment, she found a bit of bravery underneath the stage fright and general anxiety that was wreaking havoc on her brain, and for one glorious moment, Summer found the inner will and strength to _finally_ properly curse for once in her _frick_ -filled life. "You know what, Maddie, why don't you do everyone in this room a favor and go outside and play hide and go fuck yourself?"

Maddie smiled at her so tightly it appeared as if she pulled a muscle. Then she turned and walked off the stage, hopefully feeling some of the humiliation she was used to heaping on others, and Summer glanced to her side and found Bucky staring at her in awe. "... What?" she asked, face starting to burn with an uncomfortably deep blush.

"... You said _fuck_. I've never heard you say that before. That was hot," he grinned just before taking her hand again and turning them to smile out at the crowd as they got another round of obligatory but seemingly heartfelt applause. Summer laughed, embarrassed by what she had said and embarrassed to be on that stage to begin with, but when she looked down and saw Aemilia snapping pictures of her and Bucky on her phone with a huge smile on her face and Loki looking rather pleased himself at her side, Summer couldn't feel anything but happy. For once, she decided to allow herself just to feel good and stop being so embarrassed over every little thing, and enjoy this unexpected little moment for what it was.

Bucky's arm sliding around her helped her feel even better. He kissed the side of her head and then pulled her into a full hug, strong arms wrapping around her and holding her close, and she smiled stupidly as she embraced him back. She could _feel_ how proud he was of her, affection practically radiating off of his skin, and then his lips brushed against her ear and the words that followed shocked her to her core.

"I'm gonna kiss you."

Her eyes popped open wide, wider than they had ever possibly open before. " _What_?"

He pulled away from her without answering or repeating himself. She looked up into his eyes as they bored into hers, a small smile on his lips as his hand slid into her hair and cupped the back of her head. Then he was leaning in, and there was nowhere for her to run this time, no room to squirm away so that he'd catch her cheek, nothing to do but close her eyes and let him kiss her for the very first time.

The very second that his lips touched hers, she didn't hear Aemilia's laughter or the way that Loki gave a low whistle, and definitely not the way that their kiss was being applauded. The entire world ceased to exist and all that remained was _him_ and the gentle but firm press of his lips against hers. It was no tiny peck of a kiss, but exactly the kind that he would have given her had their pretend romance been as real as she wished it was.

It wasn't even a short kiss. It _lingered_ , his lips moving softly and sweetly against hers, making her chest tighten and feel like she was going to explode. It was perfect and he felt just like she had always imagined he would, warm and gentle and everything she had ever wanted. And just when she had regained enough of her mind to start to wonder if the kiss was completely fake and for the sake of the show or _maybe_ just a little bit real, his lips were leaving hers and the moment was over.

But his eyes didn't leave hers. She looked up at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks, feeling like lightning had struck her where she had stood. He said nothing, looking down at her lips and then back to her eyes, and then he seemed to remember where they were. He smiled at her and then smiled at the crowd, and she did the same despite her shaky knees and ever-growing confusion. Everything was a bit of a blur as he then led her off the stage, his hand in hers and fingers twined with her own as the "King and Queen" returned to the crowd.

 _Holy frick that actually just happened_.

Before she knew it Aemilia had grabbed her and pulled her into a big hug, mostly for the purpose of hissing in her ear, " _Oh my God!_ "

"I know," Summer hissed back, blushing up a storm and smiling like she'd just been kissed by the love of her life for the very first time.

Then Loki was there too, right next to Aemilia as always. He reached out and tapped Summer's sparkly plastic crown and said, "This suits you rather well, don't you think?"

On an emotional high that was just the latest stop on what had been a ridiculous rollercoaster all night long, Summer smiled and then hugged Loki next. "I have no clue what you did to convince people to actually vote for _me_ , but... thank you."

"There was no foul play, I assure you," he chuckled, patting her back after she pulled away. "Actually, according to the conversations I had with a few of the voters, it was your conversation with Tracey that made you the natural frontrunner."

Summer furrowed her brows. "... How?"

"Well, it seems that she quickly spread word of yours and Aemilia's... _fling_ , and the rather sassy manner in which you delivered the confession provided quite the boost to your popularity."

Summer blinked and glanced at Aemilia, who merely shrugged wearily as if to mutter _people - what are you gonna do_? "Oh. Well, uh... alrighty then."

"And by the way," Loki said casually, briefly waving a hand for emphasis, "while we're on that particular topic, I think it's worth mentioning to both of you that should either of you ever feel the need or the urge to further explore that side of your sexualities, I would be incredibly supportive of this. In fact, I would do everything I could to facilitate this, including participating in the... hypothetical event."

Summer blinked, pretty sure that it was impossible to propose a threesome any more eloquently and almost professionally than he just had. Face burning, she stuttered, "Uh..."

"I would even venture a guess that James here would be willing to lend a hand to the cause as well," Loki grinned, glancing at Bucky. "Wouldn't you?"

Bucky floundered for a moment and tried to maintain a straight face as he replied, "I... yeah. Definitely."

 _Scratch that_ , Summer thought. Loki was proposing a foursome.

 _Good God_.

"You know," Bucky added, gesturing vaguely, "just in case you needed a... extra pair of hands, or... just... anything you need."

"Very thoughtful of you," Aemilia replied, as amused as Summer was dying.

Following that rather interesting exchange, Caleb and Joey came by to congratulate the new King and Queen. Summer was still trying to get used to them not being terrible people anymore, and then when a few others approached her and mentioned that they voted for her after hearing of how she had stood up to Tracey, she simply couldn't believe the turn of events. Suddenly it was like she was the popular one - her whole little group of four as well - and it was the absolute last thing that she had ever expected to happen.

Well, next to being passionately and sweetly kissed onstage by her fake boyfriend.

Her lips still tingling with the memory long after the kiss had ended, Summer didn't notice amid all the commotion when Loki stepped away to have a word with the band. Bucky stayed at her side, smiling and injecting a word here and there, playing his part so flawlessly that even she had a hard time believing that it wasn't real.

Then, eventually, she heard Aemilia protesting softly as Loki tried to persuade her to do something. Summer shifted her attention to them and asked Aemilia what was going on, at which point her friend replied, "He's trying to convince me to _sing_."

Summer broke out into a huge grin and exclaimed, "Do it! That's perfect! Ooh," she clapped her hands as a brilliant idea struck her. "You should sing _Ruin_ , and then do the song you sang at the talent show when we were kids!"

" _Alone_? Oh dear God," Aemilia smiled, hesitant to agree to the idea. She glanced at Loki and said, "I just... it's a million times more nerve wracking to sing in front of peers instead of strangers, and I don't want to appear as if I'm trying to shove my success down everyone's throats."

"You're not!" Summer replied, aghast. "Look at me - I've got a fricking crown on my head and suddenly I'm popular for the first time ever. You deserve your moment, too. Go up there and give them hell."

Aemilia sighed and tried to suppress a little smirk. "Well..."

Loki grasped her hand and gave it an encouraging little tug. "Come along, Little One. Listen to the wisdom of your friend. And me."

Shaking her head at both Loki and Summer for talking her into this, Aemilia nevertheless grinned and let Loki guide her up to the stage. The band gave up the spotlight to the couple, and Loki took a seat at the piano while Aemilia went about adjusting the microphone stand to her smaller height.

Summer was overjoyed to see her friend take the stage, feeling giddy with excitement and hoping that wherever Tracey was in the room, she was even more miserable now. And when the lights shifted, darkening a little and casting a softer light on the room and highlighting the couple onstage, the first few notes of Aemilia's hit rang out courtesy of Loki's long fingers on the piano keys.

Before Aemilia had sang the first line, Summer felt a hand brush over the middle of her back. She turned her head to find Bucky as the culprit, his hand lowering to rest on her lower back as he asked softly, "Does the Queen wanna dance with her King?"

He said those cheesy words in obvious jest, of course, but something about them made her heart flip. She nodded with a smile and let him take her hand and guide her some steps away, to an open pocket of space amid the crowd where they could dance unimpeded.

Aemilia, meanwhile, braved her last-minute nerves from singing in front of her old peers the best way she knew how. She took a deep breath and looked at Loki, who gave her a sweet, encouraging smile. She smiled back at him, few things able to bring her as much peace as him and his unshakeable confidence in her. Then she turned back to the crowd and opened her mouth and sang.

As Aemilia sang the first lyric in a song all about longing and hunger and the kind of love that could truly ruin a person, Summer found herself being held and gently led in a slow dance. Though she felt like her skin was on fire from the proximity and the feeling of his arm around her and her hand gently cradled in his, Bucky seemed to have grown more than comfortable with being so close to her. His shoulders were relaxed, everything about him reeking of comfort while she just tried not to step on his toes or break down and word-vomit out all the questions swirling through her head following their kiss.

 _Their kiss_. Her stomach performed medal-winning gymnastics simply at the mere thought of it.

"You okay?"

Summer blinked, realizing that she'd had slight zombie-face prior to Bucky's gentle verbal nudge. She looked up at him and smiled, again struck by their proximity, and she did her very best not to look at his lips. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay."

"Sure about that? You looked pretty far away there for a minute."

She shrugged and gave another smile. "No, I'm fine. Just kind of... overwhelmed."

"I understand," he nodded, pulling her a little closer. She was now spared the eye contact, but she felt his lips brush her ear and tried not to shiver as he asked her with what might have been slight fear in his tone, "Was the kiss... should I not have done that?"

She closed her eyes and swallowed, her heart leaping again. "No, it... it was okay."

"You sure?" The uncertainty in his voice made her chest ache.

"Yeah. Just wasn't expecting it," she chuckled lightly, trying to play it off like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, I know I kinda sprung it on you," he admitted, his breath fluttering warmly against her neck with each word he spoke. "I just... I wanted these people to look at you the way you deserve. I wanted them to look up there and see this beautiful, brilliant woman and make them regret ever overlooking you."

She smiled, melting a little at those words. "So you kissed me?"

"Yeah," he replied, and she could _hear_ the little smile on his face, probably a sheepish one. "No harm in making them a little jealous. Besides," he murmured a little more lowly near her ear, "real couples kiss each other."

Then he pressed a soft, sweet kiss just under her ear. Her eyes fluttered shut and she forgot how to breathe, and she was grateful that he couldn't see her face because it was betraying her in every possible way.

Aemilia's song provided an almost cruelly fitting soundtrack to their dance, a few of the lyrics hitting Summer hard and amplifying everything she was feeling.

 _Your every thought entertains me_

 _Your every word overwhelms me_

 _Your every sweet kiss breaks me_

Then Bucky had to go and make it all even worse. "And any man who's lucky enough to have you should be kissing you all the time, so..."

He was either trying to kill her or he was simply the most oblivious man to have ever walked the Earth, she was sure of it. She sighed and laid her head down on his shoulder, closing her eyes and praying that he wouldn't say or do anything else to make her feel even more overwhelmed. A part of her wanted to lift her head up and ask him to kiss her again under the guise of the show they were putting on, to really stick it to everyone watching, but she couldn't do it. She simply _couldn't_.

 _How did we live before each other?_

 _How could I ever again love another?_

She wanted it to be real. The thought that it might not be, that the kiss they'd shared onstage and even the innocent little one he'd placed on her neck could all be fake and probably _was_ fake... it was such sweet, horrible torture, and she wanted more of it as much as she hated it.

Onstage, Aemilia sang beautifully and flawlessly through the end of the song that had made her famous. All of the confidence that she had gained over the years and that Loki had personally nurtured shone through in everything from her voice to her posture to the smile on her face, and she decided that she was glad that Summer and Loki had persuaded her to do it. Thoroughly enjoying herself and keeping an eye on Bucky and Summer as they danced, Aemilia finished her first song and then transitioned into a jazzy, simple version of Heart's _Alone_. Not only was it the same song that she had sang at the school talent show 12 years earlier, but the song held a rather fitting meaning for her two dancing friends.

It also gave Aemilia a sense of satisfaction to see Tracey, who had won that talent show years ago, watch her perform that song again knowing just _who_ had come out on top in the end.

But while Tracey stewed in unhappiness and envy, Summer silently wished for the courage to finally make an effort to take what she truly wanted. She had come so far and the reunion had proven that in ways that she could have never foreseen, but she was still too cowardly to admit to the man dancing with her and holding her close that she wanted _him_ to be the one who got to kiss her all the time.

It would have been the perfect time for her to speak up, to say something, _do_ something - anything - but she didn't. She kept her mouth shut and controlled herself, and when Aemilia finished the song on a flawless high note... it was over. The dance was over, and not too much longer after that, so was the reunion itself.

The audience - minus Tracey and her fellow bitter friends - gave Aemilia a warm and highly satisfying round of applause following her performance. She gave a humble bow with Loki at her side, smiling when he gave her a sweet little kiss before leading her off the stage.

After a little bit more mingling, small talk and a few hugs as well as promises to stay in touch that would likely never be kept, Summer and Aemilia headed to the ladies' room together for a quick bathroom break before they would head back to the hotel. They giggled amongst themselves the whole way, Aemilia recalling the now-infamous onstage kiss with wide eyes and Summer nearly crying with how truly perfect it had been, and Summer was so caught up in her own head that she didn't notice when she opened the door to a storage closet instead of the ladies' room next to it.

And that was when Summer and Aemilia both glanced inside said storage closet and gasped with stunned horror. Within the tiny space was Tracey and Jake, clothes askew and in a hilariously disturbing compromising position, sandwiched between a mop bucket and a row of brooms. The ex-sweethearts looked up and immediately ceased their _efforts_ while the girls stated in a combination of disgust and surprise.

"Wow," Summer blinked. "Seriously?"

"Shut the door!" Tracey screeched.

"You do realize he's married?" Aemilia asked her, though she knew the answer was obvious.

"You're both disgusting," Summer declared, shaking her head at them both. Then she glanced at Jake, the man she had spent high school obsessed with, and said, "Thank God you never liked me back."

Then she swung the door shut, and after a few seconds spent absorbing what they had just seen, Summer and Aemilia looked at each other.

"... You said you're friends with his wife on Facebook, right?" Summer asked.

Aemilia nodded. "I will send her a very gently worded message tomorrow morning. Poor woman."

"Could have been me," Summer blinked as they turned in search of the actual ladies' room this time. "Three babies and a cheating scumbag husband."

"I think we're exactly where we're meant to be," Aemilia smiled, pushing open the door to the bathroom. "Don't you?"

Summer smiled and answered with the utmost honesty, "You, for sure. Me... almost."

Aemilia winked knowingly, ever full of faith that Summer would always admire. "You'll get there."

* * *

An hour later, both couples had arrived back at the hotel and back to their rooms. Bucky had graciously ceded the bathroom to Summer first so that she could get changed out of her dress into something more comfortable. She let her hair down, took off her makeup, and then had to decide what to wear to bed. It was a harder decision than one would expect, considering her options were shapeless sweatpants and a baggy old t-shirt she'd gotten from a concert 7 years earlier, or a much more attractive combination of small, comfortable shorts and a camisole.

After the day that she'd had and everything she had experienced, she decided to take a chance on the latter option. If there was the slightest, smallest chance that maybe this would be the night that something _real_ happened between herself and Bucky, she figured it would be best to not look like a slob in old clothes.

She knew it wouldn't happen, but there was no harm in giving hope one last shot, right?

 _Ugh_.

After changing and giving herself a once over in the mirror, Summer rolled her eyes at her own actions and then turned and opened the bathroom door. She stepped into the room and found Bucky already changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants himself, lounging on his side of the bed and looking at his phone. He glanced up at her as she tossed him a brief smile and went to go hang her dress in the closet. She would have noticed his double take and the way that he trailed his eyes over every inch of her had she not felt the sudden need to stare at the floor and avoid looking at him at all costs.

After hanging her dress and cursing her cowardice, she then made a beeline for the bed. By then, Bucky was forcing himself to keep his eyes on his phone, and after Summer crawled into the bed and pulled the comforter over herself, she asked, "Whatcha doing?"

"I sent Steve a few pictures from tonight," Bucky replied, turning his phone so she could see what he'd sent. Summer smiled at the sight of a selfie of just her and Bucky with their crowns on, smiling happily for the camera, and then at a similar picture also including Loki and Aemilia.

"What'd he say?" Summer asked with a smile after Bucky turned the phone back towards his own eyes.

"Well, first he asked how the hell I managed to get voted King when I never even went to your school," Bucky chuckled. "Then he said we looked pretty good together with our cheap dollar store crowns on."

Summer's smile grew, and rather than acknowledge that comment, she replied, "Hey, those crowns aren't _that_ bad. Walmart, maybe. Not the dollar store."

"Oh, my bad," Bucky rolled his eyes with his own grin. Then he locked his phone and tossed it on the table next to the bed, afterwards turning his eyes back on her and asking, "So, you glad you came?"

She smiled, leaning her head back and nodding. "I really am. It turned out so much better than I thought it would. I mean, I thought it would be a horrible repeat of high school, but... it was actually pretty awesome." Her eyes then softened as they met his, and she added a little more quietly, "Thank you for everything you've done for me. You didn't have to come and do all of this, so... thank you. It means a lot to me."

His smile was full of affection as he replied, "I was happy to do it. I'm always here for whatever you need. And hey," he grinned with a faint shrug, "it was fun."

"Yeah, it kinda was," she chuckled, shaking her head. "I can't believe it."

He chuckled with her, then grew quiet and, to her surprise, reached out and put his hand over hers. "And I mean it. Anything you ever need, you know I'm here."

She smiled back, the warmth of his hand and the sincerity in his eyes making her feel both warm and fuzzy and nervous. "Yeah, I know."

He licked his lips and glanced down at their hands, thumb swiping over the back of her hand as he appeared to be trying to form words in his head. Then he looked up at her, smiled a little and opened his mouth, and Summer suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe because she could almost feel that what he was about to say was going to be... important.

But then there was a loud, startling crashing sound in the room just on the other side of theirs - the room that Loki and Aemilia were in - and Bucky's hand shot off of hers so fast it almost made her dizzy. He also almost jumped out of his skin, looking around a bit wildly before asking, "The hell was that?"

Summer opened her mouth to make her best guess, but then a distinctly feminine _moan_ answered his question. Summer blinked and then groaned, and Bucky's startled-cat expression calmed into something much more knowing and... weary.

He cleared his throat. "They're..."

"Yep," Summer nodded, unable to look him in the eye.

He sighed. "Fantastic."

Then there was another crashing sound, and this time, a rather masculine sounding moan. Bucky shook his head and Summer bit her lip, trying not to think about what was happening next door.

But as it turned out, it was all either of them could think about. Loki and Aemilia were never ones to be quiet or hold back, unintended audience or no, so Bucky and Summer really couldn't be blamed for sitting there and listening and, in all honesty, not really minding the show very much.

From the sounds of it, they were utterly tearing up the hotel room. Summer also had a pretty good idea of what was going on once the crashing sounds stopped for a bit and Aemilia moaned with increasing loudness while Loki was suspiciously silent.

Aemilia had mentioned to Summer before that Loki had the most talented tongue she'd ever encountered. Judging by what she was hearing, Summer definitely didn't doubt it.

"So," Bucky cleared his throat. "Um..."

Summer glanced at him shyly. "... Yeah?"

"So you and... Aemilia... back in college..."

Summer groaned and looked away. "Do we really have to talk about it?"

"No, but I was just... curious..."

She shot him a side-eyed look. "I can't imagine why."

"Well," he smiled, actually flushing a little, "if I told you that back in the day me and Loki got drunk and hooked up, wouldn't you want to hear all about it?"

Her eyes widened slightly just at the implication of _that_. "Of course I would."

"See? And I'd tell _you_ about it," he said, gesturing to her.

She sighed and stared down at her hands. "There's not really that much to tell."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? 'Cause you said you and her did everything." He paused for effect. " _Everything_."

Her attempt to play down her own words were cut off when Aemilia's moans suddenly reached the breaking point, and she... well... it was fairly obvious what was happening to Aemilia.

Summer gulped again, feeling like the room was suddenly uncomfortably hot. Bucky shifted a little, grabbing at the comforter and pulling it closer to his lap while Summer was distracted.

Eventually she found her voice again. "It was just... you know... it was college. We were drunk and... curious, and..." She cringed. "Horny. Like bad."

He crossed his arms and nodded. "Go on."

She groaned and looked away again. "I don't know! It just... happened."

"... But how?" He asked, clearly going out of his mind with curiosity. "Did you and her always find each other attractive? Was it like... did she seduce you, or..."

"Nobody seduced anyone," she rolled her eyes. "It wasn't porn, Bucky. I wasn't dressed up like a schoolgirl and she wasn't wearing a teacher's outfit, and she didn't spank me with a ruler."

Bucky narrowed his eyes playfully. "So _that's_ the kind of porn you watch."

"No I don't!" she squeaked, reaching over and smacking him when he started laughing. "I don't watch porn!"

" _Everybody_ watches it," he retorted. "You might not watch it _often_ , but -"

"I don't watch it," she repeated, glaring at him in a way that only made him smile more. "Stop smiling!"

"Fine, fine," he chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. "You don't watch porn, ever. That's fine. I accept that. I just... honestly would really like to know how you and Aemilia ended up fucking each other."

She couldn't help the way that her eyes flew open wider at that. " _Bucky_!"

" _What_? Is that not what you did?" he asked, his face a perfect mask of innocence.

She paused and then muttered, "Well... yeah."

Bucky bit his lip, watching Summer fidget and desperately wanting to know the story. She realized that he was never going to let this go, and the best course of action was to simply just get it over with.

"Fine. I'll tell you."

His eyes lit up like he was a little kid and she'd just told him that he was getting all of his birthday presents early. "You will?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. Only if you promise to shut up about it."

"Absolutely," he nodded solemnly. "You have my word."

She sighed and glanced at him a bit nervously, having no idea how she was supposed to actually tell him the damn story. It wasn't because she didn't vividly remember every second of it - because she did - but because she was _Summer_ and he was _him_ and she really wasn't all that comfortable talking about sex anyway. Or at least not details about sex she'd had in the past. Especially with her best friend.

But she had gotten herself into this mess, and there was only one way out. She took a deep breath and began, "So like I said, we were really _really_ drunk, and -"

Another crashing sound followed by both Loki _and_ Aemilia moaning together interrupted her. Then there was a smack against the wall followed by more blissful noises, ones that were even clearer and closer sounding now, and Summer and Bucky both stared blankly into space as their ears were mercilessly assaulted.

Bucky pulled a pillow over his lap, just for extra safety purposes. Summer cleared her throat.

"So yeah. We were drunk. Nether of us were virgins anymore but we hadn't dated anyone in awhile, so... yeah. Super horny."

* * *

 _"You know," Summer said as she winced slightly and handed the bottle of cheap vodka in her hand off to her best friend, "it really does get better the more you drink."_

 _"It does," Aemilia agreed, taking the liquor and downing a healthy swig. Barely grimacing at all, she lowered the bottle from her lips and smiled, "The two glasses of wine helped, too."_

 _"It was so stale and yet it was still good," Summer sighed, sitting back against the headboard of her bed that they were both lounging on and closing her eyes. She then giggled, "Everything's spinning."_

 _Swallowing down another healthy gulp, Aemilia giggled back and said, "I think I'm drunk. Not just tipsy. I really think I'm drunk this time."_

 _They both then broke into a series of drunken giggles, Summer reaching out and stealing the bottle back. "Me too! I'm afraid to stand up."_

 _"My hands and feet feel tingly," Aemilia smiled, holding out her hands and wiggling her fingers._

 _"My everything's tingly," Summer giggled behind the bottle. "Everything. If you know what I mean."_

 _"Oh, I know what you mean," Aemilia smiled, even blushing a little. "I'm so warm and..."_

 _"Horny?"_

 _"Yes! Oh my goodness," Aemilia laughed, covering her face with her hands. "I think I'm a horny drunk!"_

 _"Me too!" Summer squeaked, blushing far more brightly than usual thanks to the generous amount of alcohol in her veins. "I mean, literally, I can feel it just... like... pulsing."_

 _Aemilia let her head fall back as she groaned, "We need men."_

 _"But we have no men," Summed lamented, taking another drink. "Not a single dick to do anything with."_

 _Aemilia sighed and grabbed the vodka back. "If only we were like Elida. She doesn't have that problem, being an equal opportunity lover."_

 _"Her new lady friend is hot," Summer remarked with wide eyes._

 _"She's not just a lady friend," Aemilia replied. "They're getting quite serious. And she says it's the best sex she's ever had."_

 _Summer's eyes grew huge. "Really? Oh man. I am so jealous."_

 _"She told me the other day that they went at it one night for hours," Aemilia sighed._

 _"Dude. I haven't even ever gone at it for a full hour," Summer groaned. "I've never even really... enjoyed it that much, technically. But I'm still ragingly horny all the time. Like right now," she added, sinking back into the pillows._

 _Aemilia crawled up the bed and laid down beside her, both girls on their backs staring up at the ceiling fan. "Remember back in high school, when the girls thought we were lovers?"_

 _Summer snorted. "They used to debate on who would be the man in the relationship."_

 _"Why would either of us be the man? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of being with a lady?" Aemilia mused._

 _"You would think, but I don't know," Summer shrugged. Then she paused and said, "I wonder what it's like."_

 _"Being a man?"_

 _"No," Summer giggled. "Sex. With... y'know... a lady."_

 _"I wonder what just kissing one would feel like," Aemilia said. "I've always wondered that."_

 _"Me too," Summer said, not fully realizing that she had never said that out loud before. "I bet it's hot. And I can totally understand why the sex would be awesome. I mean, a girl's gonna know what feels good on another girl, right?"_

 _"That's exactly what Elida says," Aemilia sighed. "And she still loves men too, but she says that women are just... different. Softer and..."_

 _"... Wetter?"_

 _Aemilia snorted. "Much wetter."_

 _"Plus... boobs."_

 _Aemilia sighed. "_ Boobs _."_

 _Both girls then started cracking up, the air of their dorm filled with the happy giggles of two very drunk, very horny friends who hadn't seen any decent action in longer than they cared to think about._

 _Once the giggles died down, Aemilia - who was known to be even more affectionate than usual with alcohol in her system - turned towards Summer on her side and snuggled up to her, her head on Summer's shoulder and her arm tossed over her middle. "Cuddle me. I need cuddles."_

 _Summer giggled and obliged, wrapping her arms around Aemilia. "I need sex."_

 _"Me too. I need at least... three orgasms."_

 _Summer giggled. "In one night? Is that even possible?"_

 _Aemilia's smile suddenly fell off her face, and she lifted up her head to stare at Summer with sudden grave concern. "You're joking, right?"_

 _Summer furrowed her brows. "... No?"_

 _"You've never had more than one at once... even by yourself?"_

 _Summer stammered for a moment before muttering, "I, uh... well... not... really?"_

 _Aemilia's eyes widened to comical proportions. "How?"_

 _"I... don't know? Is it normal to be able to do it more than once?"_

 _"Well, it's normal for me," Aemilia shrugged._

 _"Oh. Well... maybe I'm just defective then."_

 _"Or you just need the right touch."_

 _Summer tilted her head, considering that theory in her hazy mind. Then she blinked and realized how close Aemilia was to her, all but draped over her body currently and her face only inches from hers. She smiled goofily and asked, "Are you about to kiss me or something?"_

 _"I don't know," Aemilia giggled back. "Do you want me to?"_

 _"... Do you want me to want you to?"_

 _"Do you want me to want you to want me to?"_

 _They both started laughing again, unable to help themselves. It just so happened that during the giggle-fest, their lower halves shifted enough to where Aemilia's legs ended up parting over one of Summer's thighs, and as the laughter died down, she sighed and involuntarily ground herself just the tiniest bit on her. Summer barely noticed, but that was when Aemilia suddenly realized how desperately aroused she truly was._

 _She made a low, needy noise and laid her head back down, this time nuzzling Summer's neck and murmuring, "You smell nice."_

 _"You feel nice," Summer replied before she could think better of it._

 _"Do I?" Aemilia smiled, brushing her lips across Summer's skin, unsure if she meant to do it or not. "So do you."_

 _"That tickles," Summer giggled, squirming away a little. She shifted her leg a bit in the process, accidentally pushing up against Aemilia in the process. It felt much better than Aemilia thought it should have, and she couldn't help but squeeze her thighs around Summer's just tightly enough for Summer to finally notice._

 _Summer looked up at her in surprise, not saying a word and not having the presence of mind to wonder why her heart was suddenly beating a little faster. Aemilia smiled at her, a few stray auburn curls in her eyes that had escaped her haphazard bun, and with a sudden devious little glint in her eye she said, "I have an idea."_

 _Summer's heart leapt in her chest. "What?"_

 _"I could kiss you."_

 _At just the mere suggestion, Summer's blood was pumping faster and the pulsing she had mentioned before became almost unbearable. "I... really?"_

 _"Mhm," Aemilia hummed. "Unless you don't want me to."_

 _"No, I do," Summer blurted out entirely too quickly. She turned a shade of red to rival the hair on Aemilia's head, then squeezed her eyes shut and laughed nervously. "I mean - I didn't mean -"_

 _Aemilia chuckled. "It's alright, don't be embarrassed. The way I see it," she reached out and touched a piece of Summer's straight black hair that had escaped her ponytail, "we're both drunk, we're both incredibly horny, and we're both rather curious. Aren't we?"_

 _"Y... yeah," Summer stuttered, feeling like she might combust any minute._

 _"So then why not?"_

 _... She made an excellent point. Summer smiled, her cheeks utterly on fire as she squeaked, "Okay."_

 _Aemilia then smiled and, to Summer's surprise, pushed up and off of her, sitting up. Then she grabbed Summer's hands and pulled her up next, and then they were both giggling quietly and blushing as they looked at each other, both alight with excitement and a little bit of nervousness but mostly sheer, undeniable want._

 _"I don't know if I'm the best kisser, so... don't expect much," Summer babbled, heart racing and body aching for something, anything, to happen._

 _"Oh hush," Aemilia scoffed, leaning in and bringing her hand to Summer's face. She traced the line of her jaw with her thumb, then briefly and softly touched her lower lip. "No negativity from this mouth of yours tonight. I won't have it."_

 _Summer almost shivered from those words, staring at Aemilia's lips as they inched closer to hers. "... Okay."_

 _"Good," Aemilia murmured before closing the last bit of distance and, almost feather softly, pressing her lips to Summer's and gently kissing her for the first time. Summer forgot how to breathe and Aemilia slid her hand into Summer's messy ponytail, holding her close and savoring that first little experimental kiss as much as she could. When they drew apart, they both opened their eyes and looked at each other for a brief few little seconds before leaning back in and meeting in another kiss, a longer and less cautious kiss this time._

 _If Summer had harbored any doubts before as to whether she would enjoy this sort of thing or not, they were gone within an instant. Aemilia's lips were soft and sweet against hers, plump and not the least bit shy, and Summer's head was spinning in ways that had nothing to do with how drunk she was. They were both breathless by the time they pulled apart, but they only took a second to quickly breathe in before kissing again, Summer parting her lips this time and welcoming Aemilia's tongue into her mouth. She moaned the minute their tongues touched, and that was when things truly began to get more heated._

 _They inched closer to each other, lost in their kiss and getting more courageous with their hands. Summer's went to Aemilia's shoulders, feeling the bare skin exposed by her thin tank top before sliding up into Aemilia's hair, and Aemilia let her hand drift down to Summer's waist and then her hip, her tongue playing games with Summer's that had them both panting by the time they broke apart. Aemilia looked heatedly at Summer's flushed cheeks and parted lips before tilting her head and kissing her neck, making Summer moan a little more loudly than before._

 _"You're... God," Summer breathed, hand clutching at Aemilia's hair as she gasped softly. "You're really not helping with the whole... ugh... drunk and horny problem."_

 _Aemilia chuckled against Summer's skin, peppering increasingly open-mouthed kisses along her neck until she found a spot that made Summer tense and gasp. Aemilia then utterly tortured that spot until Summer was nearly shaking with need, and then she pulled away and looked up at her as she murmured, "What if I didn't mind helping in a different way?"_

 _Summer's jaw dropped and she was about to start babbling until she was blue in the face, but Aemilia saved her the trouble and kissed her again before she could say another word. Summer whimpered into the kiss and then happily climbed on to Aemilia's lap when her hands grasped her hips and pulled her closer._

 _Straddling Aemilia's hips, Summer broke their kiss long enough for them to share a smile and a breathless little laugh before their lips met again. The surprise of it all was wearing off a little and giving way to something much better, and they were both far too needy to stop just yet. Summer kissed Aemilia back with everything she had, taking Aemilia's hair down from its bun so she could bury her fingers in it, and Aemilia followed suit and took down Summer's hair from its mostly wrecked ponytail._

 _"This is fun," Summer giggled against Aemilia's lips. Aemilia grinned back, running her hands up Summer's bare thighs until she reached the hem of her shorts. Summer bit her lip when Aemilia then pulled her down, grinding them together and placing a hot kiss on the front of her throat._

 _"I think we can make it more fun," Aemilia breathed, kissing down to her collarbone. Summer held her head close and rocked on her lap, eyes closed and body craving more, aching for it, and quite possibly willing to do anything to get it._

 _One of Aemilia's hands reached up and slowly, sensually dragged over Summer's breast through her tank top, and Summer hissed and arched into the touch. Aemilia smirked and continued to toy with her through the thin material, leaning up and kissing her lips for a moment before trailing her kisses to Summer's ear. "Is this too much?"_

 _"No," Summer immediately replied, aghast at the very thought. "More," she whined, too drunk and too horny to care about being embarrassed. "I want more."_

 _Aemilia nipped Summer's earlobe and exhaled shakily at her confession, lifting her head and bringing her hands to the hem of Summer's tank. She started to lift it up and Summer brought up her arms without hesitation, letting Aemilia strip it off and toss it off the bed, leaving her upper body completely bare. It wasn't the first time that Aemilia had seen her best friend's breasts, but it was the first time that she had seen them and looked at them in the way that she was in that moment._

 _One arm wrapped around Summer's waist and the other hand reaching up to cup a full, perfect breast, Aemilia first gave it a firm, sweet squeeze and dragged her thumb over her nipple and teased it until Summer had to bite her lip and roll her hips to try to relieve some of the tension. That was when Aemilia leaned forward and replaced her hand with her mouth, the first hot touch of her tongue making Summer whine and tighten her hand in Aemilia's hair. It only got worse from there, and if she hadn't been drunk, Summer would have been horridly embarrassed with how needy and desperate she acted as Aemilia's hot mouth wreaked havoc on both of her breasts, switching back and forth until Summer was sure that Aemilia could feel how wet she was through her clothes._

 _Aemilia eventually pulled off with a low little groan, looking up at Summer with pure heat in her hazel eyes before Summer literally grabbed her and kissed the hell out of her. Then Summer was pulling clumsily on her own tank top, yanking until Aemilia was forced to break away and let Summer pull it off. Then they were both topless, Summer's eyes glued to Aemilia's breasts and hands soon following. They weren't quite as large as Summer's were, but they were full and perfect and unbelievably perky. She dragged them both up and down each one, Aemilia arching into the touch and needing more, biting her lip and hissing when Summer gently flicked at both nipples at the same time. She was aching and she needed so much more, both of them loving every minute of what they were doing but starting to lose patience._

 _"Off," Aemilia said, the single word a dual command that Summer understood instantly. Summer eased off of her lap and shed her little shorts, Aemilia doing the same, and when they were left only in their panties, they returned to each other on their knees and collided in another deep, hungry kiss._

 _Breasts pressed together and hands wandering everywhere, it was all heat and open-mouthed, deep kisses and needs that could no longer be ignored. Aemilia was the first to let her fingers wander where Summer ached the most, drifting from her hips to her inner thighs and slowly dragging up until they brushed across utterly soaked material._

 _"You're so wet," Aemilia noted with delight, Summer's forehead against hers and body trembling at just that little touch. "Did I do this to you?"_

 _Summer whimpered, nodding and rocking her hips down, trying to chase her teasing fingers._

 _Aemilia rubbed softly, too softly, through the fabric and watched as Summer whined and then kissed her, sliding her tongue deep into Aemilia's mouth. Then, to Aemilia's surprise, Summer snuck a hand between her legs and started teasing her right back. She was just as wet as Summer was, maybe even a little more, and Summer broke their kiss and all but gasped, "God, this is the hottest thing I've ever done."_

 _Aemilia giggled, the feeling mutual. Then she finally slid her fingers into the front of Summer's panties and touched her fully as she replied, "We're only getting started, darling."_

 _Summer moaned and could barely hold herself up, wound so tightly and so close so soon that it made her nearly reel in shock. But she didn't lose her head completely, following suit with her own hand and burying it between her best friend's legs, their lips meeting in a frantic kiss and fingers moving quickly but softly on one another. They kissed though every touch, Summer breaking away only to moan and throw her head back or let it fall forward so she could take a nipple in her mouth and feel Aemilia jolt and clench around her fingers at the combined sensations. Then Aemilia yanked Summer back by her hair, the slight roughness feeling like heaven and making Summer moan shakily just before Aemilia kissed her again, hard and deep and fast, tongue mimicking what her fingers were doing further down._

 _Summer had never been particularly loud before, but she found that she simply couldn't shut up. She could feel the coil tightening in her belly, ready to spring at any moment, and Aemilia was right behind her. She was wet and hot and pulsing around her fingers, riding them and rocking herself until her breasts bounced and her mouth fell open in sheer bliss. Realizing that she was making Aemilia come and feeling the telltale gush around her fingers, Summer whimpered and then came right with her, the force of her release making her gasp and moan more loudly than she ever had before in her life._

 _It was, in a word, exquisite. Both girls stroked each other gently through the last little aftershock, free arms holding on to each other and mouths open as they panted into the space between them._

 _In time, they removed their hands and looked up at each other, both smiling and blushing as they let out breathless little laughs._

 _"Fuck," Aemilia sighed, wrapping both arms around Summer and holding her close._

 _Summer giggled, pushing Aemilia's curls behind her ears. "That was amazing."_

 _"It was," Aemilia agreed, gently kissing her lips. Then she smirked and said, "I want more."_

 _Summer bit her lip. "Already?"_

 _Aemilia simply grinned and then sent Summer down to her back with a firm push to her chest. Summer hit the pillows with a surprised laugh, watching Aemilia drop down to her hands and knees to crawl over her. She stopped near Summer's thighs, hooking a finger into each side of her panties and then pulling, throwing the soaked things carelessly off the bed and then admiring the sight of Summer fully naked underneath her._

 _"You are absolutely gorgeous, Summer," Aemilia told her, eyes taking in every curve and every little imperfection on her body. "Look at you," she said, inching up higher and grasping at one of her heavy breasts. "So soft... and sensitive. Aren't you?"_

 _Summer responded by crying out softly when Aemilia's lips wrapped around her nipple, beginning her torture anew. The pulsing was back, the throbbing of desire that Summer would do anything to sate, and the sounds leaving her mouth were beyond her control._

 _Aemilia all but worshipped at her breasts, teasing and licking and sucking until Summer's hands were frantic in her hair and her hips jerked of her own accord. When Aemilia finally broke away, she grinned down at her mess of a friend and kissed her until neither one of them could breathe or even think._

 _Her fingers found Summer again as they kissed, Summer gasping into her mouth at the touch and clenching gratefully around her. But the touch was fleeting, Aemilia drawing her fingers away and breaking their kiss. Then she maintained eye contact with Summer as she brought her fingers to her mouth, curiously licking at her friend's wetness. After that first experimental taste, her eyes darkened and she slid her lips over her fingers, licking all of it up, and Summer nearly came untouched right then._

 _"Can I try something?" Aemilia asked. Summer merely blinked at her, hardly able to speak, and Aemilia added, "I know how good it feels to have a mouth on me. I want to put mine on you so you can know too."_

 _Summer bit back a moan. This was what she really wanted, and Aemilia knew it. Aemilia's old boyfriend had been particularly adept at this act, but Summer had yet to date a man with that kind of skill. She desperately wanted to know what it felt like, and now all she had to do was say yes and she would._

 _"Can I?" Aemilia asked again, briefly giving her a sweet kiss. "You taste so sweet. I think I'll enjoy it. And I know what feels good." She kissed her again, then said against her lips, "I bet I can make you come over and over again, until you beg me to stop."_

 _That did it. "Oh God, please," Summer gasped. "Please."_

 _Aemilia smirked almost cruelly. "I like you begging for me."_

 _"Just... please, I'll do anything," Summer babbled._

 _"I know you will," Aemilia purred, giving her one last deep kiss before trailing her lips elsewhere, starting a slow and sensual journey down Summer's body. Summer was suddenly very, very glad that she was drunk, because if she hadn't been, she would have been freaking out and possibly chickening out at this point but not because she didn't want it. She wanted it badly, and thanks to the alcohol, the insecurities that she normally harbored were little more than mere whispers in the back of her mind. Plus, Aemilia was her very best friend in the world, and Summer trusted her more than she trusted anybody else in her life._

 _Aemilia moved slowly without being torturous, taking her sweet time in getting Summer desperate all over again. Every kiss and every touch took her higher and made her squirm and writhe with anticipation, especially when she had her lips pressed to Summer's inner thigh and was kissing an open-mouthed trail upwards. Summer watched in rapt anticipation as Aemilia slung her leg over her shoulder, and then Aemilia opened her eyes and looked at her just as she bit down harshly and perfectly enough to make Summer gasp and her entire body jerk. Aemilia grinned and then closed her eyes again, kissing closer and closer to her ultimate destination as Summer watched and unknowingly grasped the bedsheets as her heart threatened to pound out of her chest._

 _She didn't know what to expect. Would it live up to all the hype? Would Aemilia not like doing it for her? She had the very best of intentions but maybe she would simply dislike it, maybe she wouldn't even be able to finish it, and maybe -_

 _Summer gasped and once again her entire body jerked, much harder than before, at the very first direct - hot, wet - contact. She kept her eyes opened and watched what she could see of it, Aemilia's red hair spilling over her shoulders and tickling Summer's legs, her eyes closed and fingers digging in to Summer's thigh and -_

 _"Oh, God," Summer moaned, closing her eyes and letting her head roll back into the pillows beneath her. Aemilia was going slow, getting a feel for the act, taking her time and languidly tasting her and teasing the right spot, and it felt... even better than what Summer had always imagined._

 _Her fears of Aemilia disliking it were blessedly baseless, and they evaporated after the first few moments. It felt so good that a part of Summer wished that it wouldn't end, and at some point one of her hands ended up in Aemilia's curls, around the same time that Aemilia's free hand slid up over Summer's belly and grasped one of her breasts. Summer covered Aemilia's hand with her own - her breast too ample to fully fit either one of their hands, really - and then her grip tightened and then she gasped and moaned in sheer surprise because she had thought she had a handle on this but now Aemilia was_ sucking _and -_

 _Her hips started moving beyond her control, thrusting rhythmically up and against her friend's face, everything suddenly moving so fast and so quickly that she could barely comprehend any of it. She was a loud, writhing mess and oblivious to all of it, still clutching Aemilia's hair and hand and her back arching and body simply convulsing as she reached her peak and cried out so loudly that she might have woke the whole building._

 _After about eight or so years of her only pleasures coming by her own hand and very few other means, Summer finally felt as if she had experienced the sort of earth-shaking, life-changing orgasms that one simply could never ever forget. It lasted for what felt like minutes even though she knew it was only seconds, but they were some of the best and most intense damn seconds of her entire life. And through it all, Aemilia never stopped or pulled away. Instead she gently eased her through it, watching Summer lose her mind and trying not to grin too widely after her entire body fell limp with satisfaction._

 _Aemilia could have stopped there and Summer wouldn't have dreamed of protesting. But she didn't want to stop, so she didn't. In fact, as Summer breathed hard and laid there deliriously sated, Aemilia simply kept going, so feather-softly and gently that it felt almost comforting._

 _Summer didn't even fully register that Aemilia had never stopped until she felt the soft press of two fingers into the pool of wetness that Aemilia was entirely to blame for. Her breath caught and her body gave another jolt, those two fingers slipping easily within her and Aemilia playing lightly with her tongue, the combined sensations making her crave more until she was no longer sated and perhaps even more hungry for it than she had been before._

 _She had no idea it could even be like this, that she could feel so much and feel so incredibly good. Aemilia, on the other hand, did know, and she was aching and occasionally rolling her hips against the mattress in a mostly vain attempt to relieve some of her own need. But she focused on Summer rather than herself, and she made it her mission to give her the most mind-blowing sexual experience of her life thus far._

 _And she succeeded beautifully. Her fingers and mouth gradually working faster and in impressive sync with each other, Summer lost all sense of shame and inhibition and gave herself over to the almost otherworldly pleasure, greedily taking it all and only wanting more. Aemilia gave her more, bringing her to powerful and overwhelming ends twice more, until her fingers ached and her mouth needed a break._

 _The last two times having hit her nearly back to back, Summer felt like she had ascended to some other plane of existence as she laid there utterly wrecked. She whined when Aemilia withdrew her fingers, panting from her own need and sheer physical exertion. She tossed her hair back over her shoulders and looked down at the mess that she had reduced her friend to, smirking and wiping her hand over her mouth after setting her leg back down. She soothed her hand over Summer's hip and crawled back up the bed, laying down next to her and smiling rather filthily and self-satisfied when Summer opened her eyes and stared at her in a somewhat shellshocked daze._

 _"... Enjoy that?" Aemilia asked cheekily, brushing aside a lock of sweat-dampened hair from Summer's face._

 _"I... I don't think there's words for... that," Summer gulped. She managed to shift her highly sensitive and satisfied body towards Aemilia, both girls now on their sides with very little space between them. "I mean... I thought it would feel good but... not that good." She paused and then flushed a little, asking in a smaller voice, "Did you... like doing it, or..."_

 _"Darling," Aemilia replied softly, trailing her hand down Summer's back, fingers tickling along her spine, "if you really doubt if I enjoyed myself, you can touch me and feel the effect that it had on me." She watched Summer blush at the implication and then added, "Trust me, I enjoyed making you come and gush all over my tongue."_

 _Summer's eyes widened fractionally and she stuttered, "I've... never heard you talk like this before."_

 _Aemilia smirked again. "That's because you've never had sex with me before tonight."_

 _Hearing what they were doing put in such a way briefly shocked Summer for a moment, mainly thanks to the fact that she hadn't been doing a lot of thinking and thus hadn't really assigned the word sex to this drunken, curious, ridiculously hot... thing they were doing._

 _"Oh man," Summer blinked, blush deepening. "This isn't gonna make anything... weird... tomorrow, is it?"_

 _"We've been best friends for ages," Aemilia shrugged, clearly not worried. "We've known each other inside out for so long." She paused. "And now we really know each other inside and out."_

 _That made both girls burst into a new fit of quiet giggles, and somewhere in the midst of the girlish sounds and the laughter, they gravitated closer to each other and neither of them were sure who kissed who first. Regardless of how it happened, their lips were locked again and Aemilia's hand was wandering from Summer's back to her hips and down her outer thigh and back again, and Summer found that she could easily get caught up in the softness and warmth of her friend all over again. But even more importantly, Aemilia very much needed to be touched again, and after the way that she had blown Summer's mind only moments earlier, Summer was more than willing to shift all of her focus to her._

 _For the first time that night, Summer maneuvered on top of Aemilia and smiled down at her for a second before capturing her lips again, their kisses starting to take on a more heated, needy edge again. Summer relished the feel of the other woman underneath her, leaning one arm on the bed and using the other to touch her where she pleased, and she was starting to understand why this whole experimenting thing was so big with others of her age. It was fun, and this also counted as her first sexual experience with someone that she truly trusted with every fiber of her being and not a trace of doubt anywhere to be found._

 _Trailing her lips down to Aemilia's neck, she cupped one perfectly shaped, full breast and touched her how she liked to be touched herself, all the while getting slightly carried away and sucking a light mark beneath her ear. Aemilia mewled with need and her hands traveled down Summer's back to her hips and grasped them tightly, pulling her down and grinding them together. They both released quiet little sounds against each other's lips, Summer's eyes opening to find Aemilia's closed and her lower lip caught between her teeth._

 _Wanting nothing more than to make her see stars again, Summer slipped her hand further down into the now-familiar heat between Aemilia's legs, the very first brush of her fingers making Aemilia sigh and sink back into the mattress a bit. Summer's entire body heated back up simply at the feel of how incredibly wet Aemilia was, making the gentle massage of her fingers come effortlessly easy. She leaned down and kissed down the swell of one breast, taking her time before taking a nipple in her mouth and letting her tongue do her work for her. She felt Aemilia clench around her in response, and she decided that she would do everything she could to make her do that as much as she could._

 _Aemilia was rolling against Summer's hand in what seemed like hardly any time at all, one hand in Summer's hair and the other running up and down her back and her side, as restless as the rest of her. Summer alternated between torturing her breasts and kissing her hard and deeply, and she knew that it was working beautifully when Aemilia started moaning into her mouth and clenching again._

 _But it wasn't quite enough for Summer this time around. Feeling brave and ready to take things a step further, Summer removed her fingers right at the last minute, smiled and blushed at the way that Aemilia's eyes first flew open in confusion, then darkened with anticipation once Summer started making her way down._

 _"Are you sure?" Aemilia asked breathlessly, shamelessly opening her legs for Summer and watching with bated breath as she scraped her teeth gently over one of her hipbones. It felt better than she expected it to, and the way that she trembled slightly gave it away._

 _"Oh, I'm totally sure," Summer assured her, smoothing her hands up Aemilia's inner thighs and settling down between them._

 _"I just..." Aemilia faltered when Summer unexpectedly licked a hot line up her inner thigh. "I don't want you to feel... obligated because I -"_

 _"I don't," Summer told her, genuinely meaning it. "I wanna do this to you."_

 _That was good enough for Aemilia. She grinned and laid her arms up over her head, laying back and all but presenting herself as a feast ready to be had. She had a stubborn little smile on her face, and while Summer felt a few last minute nerves and had to ignore a few panicky thoughts over whether she could do this half as well as Aemilia had, she definitely wasn't gonna back out now._

 _Just as Aemilia had, Summer gently and slowly kissed her way to the other woman's center. She ignored the nerves and acted on instinct, and once she got started... she was pleasantly surprised by how easily it came._

 _What Summer lacked in experience she made up for in sheer determination. Aemilia, having been so close before, was desperate within only minutes and didn't hold back or try to restrain the sounds coming from her mouth. She tangled one hand in Summer's hair and grasped her own breast with the other, teasing herself and gasping when Summer began beautifully mimicking what Aemilia had done to her. It was perfect because Aemilia had touched her the way that she liked to be touched herself, and Summer had clearly paid attention rather well._

 _As she grew closer, her fingers tightened in Summer's hair and she moaned with anticipation, throwing her other leg also over Summer's shoulder and holding her in place as she rolled her hips beyond her control. She was nearly there, calling Summer's name without shame and so very close to what she needed, but then Summer stopped. She stopped and looked up at Aemilia, blushing and smiling a bit mischievously, only setting her mouth back to Aemilia to build her back up and suddenly pull away at the last minute... two more times._

 _Aemilia was wrecked with frustration, cursing and whining and panting hard every time that she was left hanging, but her torment wasn't without a purpose. Summer had a plan, and when she knew that Aemilia had reached the end of her rope, she laid one arm flat across her belly to hold her down, used her other hand to slip her fingers within her and then lowered her mouth to her one last time, this time holding nothing back and seeing her through to the end. And once Aemilia finally reached her peak, she gasped and shook and arched and nearly screamed in pure bliss._

 _For all that Summer had enjoyed that night herself, by the time that she was done and Aemilia had fallen limp with exquisite satisfaction against the bed, Summer was aching all over again. The sounds that Aemilia had made, the way that her body had trembled and rocked and melted for Summer, her taste and raw, shameless sexual energy, all of it had sparked the flame low in Summer's belly once more. She didn't think that Aemilia could take much more, not after that, but an idea occurred to her after she moved back up and had claimed Aemilia's lips in a soft kiss._

 _Aemilia's eyes were watery, a leftover telltale sign of her previous welcomed torture, and she gazed up at her friend with a dazed little smile as she murmured, "You have a talented tongue."_

 _Summer grinned, sliding one thigh between Aemilia's. "Really? Even though it was my first time?"_

 _Aemilia nodded, running her hands lazily down Summer's back. "Perhaps we both have a... natural knack for this sort of thing."_

 _Summer giggled and kissed her again, rocking gently down on her thigh and squeezing around her just enough to alleviate some of the stubborn ache. She couldn't believe that she was still going, but she needed more - just a little more - and she had no shame left in her to think twice about starting to ride her best friend's thigh._

 _Aemilia didn't mind. She grinned in encouragement and held on to her hips as they moved, and when Summer leaned up on her elbows to shift her angle a little, Aemilia leaned up and let her tongue flick out to play with a nipple. Summer huffed and held her head close, groaning softly when the touch intensified the slow-burn of pleasure between her legs. She almost didn't notice when Aemilia started rocking with her, lips closed around her nipple and hand wrapping behind her thigh to pull it closer to her sensitive flesh._

 _They moved like that for awhile, nothing rushed or hurried, quiet groans and the soft sound of skin sliding against skin the only sounds to be heard in the room. Summer covered Aemilia's lips with hers when she pulled away from her breasts, and in between kisses Aemilia murmured, "You feel so good." She tugged Summer's hips closer and then whined, "Faster."_

 _Summer obliged with a quiet moan, biting her lip and closing her eyes as she obeyed and rocked a little faster and harder. Aemilia answered with a moan of her own, fully rolling against Summer now and admiring the way that her breasts bounced with each new circle of her hips. She reached up and grasped them both, Summer's head falling back as she arched into the touch, and that was when Aemilia decided that she simply had to seize the control back._

 _She rolled them over easily, surprising Summer and making her laugh as her head hit the pillow. Aemilia grinned back in a way that was more predatory than anything, then parted Summer's legs open wide with her hands on her knees and settled between them._

 _Summer brought her legs around Aemilia's waist immediately and squeezed, her hands going to Aemilia's now-wild curls and burying themselves within them. Aemilia placed an almost sloppy kiss to Summer's lips, grinding them together in an experimental way as she stroked her cheek and said, "You've been so good, darling."_

 _Summer smiled, her inner submissive nature floating to the surface. "I have?"_

 _"So fucking good," Aemilia replied, loving the way that Summer's cheeks heated up in response to those words. Shifting her hips a little, trying to find the perfect spot, she went on, "So eager and giving... and so desperate to be fucked."_

 _Summer's breath caught in her throat, and then her eyes widened and she gasped when Aemilia found just the angle that she was looking for. Pressing down gently and rubbing them together in the most intimate of ways, Aemilia exhaled a shaky breath and said, "That's what you want, isn't it? For me to fuck you, ride you into this bed until we both come all over each other?"_

 _Summer nearly expired on the spot, mind reeling at Aemilia's words. "Oh my God -"_

 _"Answer me, Summer," Aemilia all but demanded, hand sliding under Summer's head and taking a fistful of her hair in a tight grip. "Answer me and I won't stop until you scream."_

 _"Yes," Summer gasped, restless hands moving up and down Aemilia's steadily grinding hips. "God, yes, please..."_

 _Aemilia grinned at her begging and then kissed her, hot and open mouthed and needy as she picked up the pace. She rather liked what they were doing, reminding her of grinding on a pillow except instead of a soft flimsy thing, she was riding warm and slippery wet flesh. And Summer was already almost out of her mind with pleasure all over again._

 _Moving together in a steadily building rhythm and both of them amazed at how unexpectedly good it felt, it wasn't long until Summer was moaning incoherently and Aemilia was riding her harder, eventually taking her wrists and pinning them to the bed over her head as the heat and her instincts took over. She laid her forehead against Summer's and groaned, "I can feel you shaking."_

 _Summer whimpered and let Aemilia restrain her, barely able to move her own hips at all at this point and at Aemilia's mercy. She was close and Aemilia knew it, but she wanted them to come together, so she warned her, "Not yet."_

 _"But I -"_

 _"I said not yet," Aemilia repeated. "You will come when I tell you to, understand?" When Summer whined but nodded shakily, Aemilia tightened her grip on her wrists and added, "And when you come, you will say my name."_

 _Summer moaned her wordless assent and then they were kissing again, hard and fast and increasingly frantic as Aemilia moved faster. The small mattress creaked beneath them in protest as it all began to come to a head, Summer out of her mind and making noises she didn't know she was capable of and Aemilia feeling like she was on the cusp of the most intense release of her life. Her stomach clenching and entire body tensing, she gasped against Summer's lips, "Fuck, Summer, now - come for me now, oh fuck -"_

 _Just as Aemilia had ordered her to, Summer came with a careless, half-gasped cry of her name. The sound reached Aemilia's ears and heightened her pleasure even more, crashing over her and making her nearly black out from the sheer intensity. They stayed pressed together through it all, moaning and trembling through every last aftershock while clinging to each other, bringing the unexpected and very enlightening night to an end._

 _Aemilia half-collapsed on top of Summer, both of them breathing hard and finally, finally spent. Aemilia's head was on Summer's chest, her body still nestled between her legs, and Summer had all the strength of a single wet noodle left in her._

 _Suddenly, they were both ready to sleep for a week._

 _Aemilia eventually found the will to roll off of Summer, letting out a deep breath and laying next to her, their shoulders and legs touching. Both exhaling deeply, they turned their head and looked at each other, then smiled and let a few exhausted laughs._

 _"Oh my God," Summer said with wide eyes, looking like she might have just had a life changing epiphany. "That was..."_

 _"I know," Aemilia blinked. She had expected it to be good and ridiculously fun, but every last bit of it had exceeded each one of her expectations._

 _"Like..."_

 _"Just..."_

 _Neither of them able to find the words, they looked at each other and giggled again._

 _"I think we might be a little gayer than we thought we were," Summer mused, gratefully taking the blanket that Aemilia pulled up to drape over them both._

 _Snuggling back up to Summer like they had done countless times before - only naked and very satisfied this time - Aemilia laid down and sighed, "Well, who isn't at least a little gay every once in awhile?"_

 _Summer chuckled and closed her eyes, more than ready for sleep to overtake her. "True."_

* * *

"... So yeah. Then we fell asleep, and that's... that's what happened. That's the story."

Face aflame in the most uncontrollable blush of her life, Summer tried to calm herself down and work up the nerve to look up and chance a look at Bucky. It took her a moment or two, but she finally succeeded.

Bucky now had not one but _three_ pillows on his lap, and he was leaning on the top one with his arms crossed over it. His hand covered his mouth and he had a sort of dazed look about him. Summer watched him for a moment, debating whether to ask if he'd gone catatonic or not, but she remained silent when he finally showed signs of life.

Dropping his hand and then dragging his fingers through his hair, Bucky closed his eyes and muttered, " _Fuck_."

Summer smiled nervously. "Did the story... live up to your expectations, or..."

He let out a sudden, harsh laugh. "Yeah, yeah. It... it, uh..."

Before he could get the rest of the words out, the distinct sound of a headboard rattling rhythmically against the wall made both Summer and Bucky pause and then groan with despair. Loki and Aemilia were still going at it, and had _been_ going at it throughout the whole story. There had been breaks in the noise now and again, but now they were fully back at it. And neither of them kept their voices down, either.

Summer was equal parts embarrassed and hopelessly turned on. Recalling that particular story would have been enough to get her all worked up, but then there was all the _noises_ and the obvious things happening next door, Aemilia's moans and Loki's filthy mouth - and _Aemilia's_ filthy mouth, too. The walls were seemingly paper thin, and they could hear all of it.

"I'm just... kinda speechless," Bucky admitted, not quite meeting her gaze. Then he paused, listened to the sounds coming one room over, and then noted, "She's got a hell of a vocabulary."

"Yeah. Always has," Summer chuckled nervously. "Loki too."

Bucky's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah. Him too. _Fuck_."

Then another minute or two of silence - well, of not _talking_ , anyway - passed, and Summer was at a bit of a loss for what to do. It appeared that they were going to sit there and just keep listening in the aftermath of her little storytelling adventure, and while it wasn't as awkward as it could have been, it wasn't exactly comfortable.

Especially for Bucky. In more ways than one.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go take a shower," Bucky announced.

"Okay."

But Bucky didn't seem to be in any rush to get up. He stared down at his lap in despair, then snapped his head up when all the ruckus next door finally all came to a head and, with a few last smacks of the bed against the wall and both Aemilia and Loki crying out in rather enviable states of euphoria, the "show" finally came to an end.

A rather _spectacular_ end, by the sounds of it.

Everything now deafeningly silent, Bucky cleared his throat. "Yeah, so... I'm gonna go... take a shower," he repeated, this time getting up and out of the bed. Summer furrowed her brows when she glanced up and saw him taking two of the pillows with him.

"Why are you taking pillows with you?"

"Because I have to," he snapped more harshly than he'd intended to, expression and tone more than a little frazzled.

"... Okay, whatever. Calm down."

He laughed humorlessly. "That's what I'm _trying_ to do."

Suddenly, Summer understood. "... Oh."

"Yeah, _oh_ ," he mumbled before hurrying off to the bathroom and all but throwing himself into it, closing the door behind him as fast as he could.

Summer watched him and then giggled to herself when he disappeared from view. She was in the same boat as him, but lucky for her, she had a much easier way of hiding it.

Meanwhile, behind the closed bathroom door and under a steady spray of ice cold water, Bucky decided that he had reached the end of his rope. Everything was ridiculous, and he no longer had the will or the cowardice to keep it going. He was sick of dancing around the truth and losing his nerve to tell it, sick of letting Summer slip through his fingers because he was afraid of the future and all of the ways in which he could screw up what they had between them. Those fears had held him back long enough, and come what would, he was finally going to speak up.

Once the frigid, miserable shower had done its job, he flipped off the water and stepped out, dripping on the tile floor and full of inner courage to finally lay his cards on the table. He dried off as fast as he could and dressed quickly as well, not wanting to leave any room for error or chickening out. This was _happening_ , come hell or high water.

After tossing his wet hair into a loose bun at the back of his head, he gave himself one last long, threatening look in the mirror. _Don't you fuck this up this time, you idiot_ , he mentally scolded himself before turning and flipping off the light and opening the door. He walked out and took one look at the bed, then felt all of that courage and resolve leave him in one long, inevitable rush.

She was asleep. While he had been in the shower, forcibly _calming_ himself down, she had curled up on her side and passed out. And he couldn't even hold it against her, because she looked so sweet and peaceful that he found her impossible to annoyed with.

Yet again, his plans were foiled. Just like every time in the past that he had come close to finally confessing the truth of how he felt about her, something always happened to stop it. And now he would have to wait for another opportunity.

It wouldn't have been so bad, he thought, if he hadn't kissed her earlier that day for the first time and now craved her lips in a way that he never had before. Stealing a taste had only made him all the more desperate for her, just like he had known it would. But he still wouldn't have changed what he did for anything.

Quietly, he turned off the lights and then crawled into his side of the bed. He watched her sleep for a moment, wondering if he would ever stop being an idiot and finally listen to Loki's advice. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would get another chance in the morning to do just that.

Or maybe it would be weeks, or months. Maybe he'd never do it, and she would never be his.

He rolled his eyes at his morose thoughts and tossed a pillow over his face. Sometimes, he thought to himself as he laid there wide awake for the next hour, he really was his own worst enemy.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: hey guys! :D so this is the chapter we've all been waiting for, AND the last chapter before the epilogue, so instead of droning on and on up here, let me just say that I LOVE all of you and am incredibly grateful for your feedback and response to this story, and I hope that you all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it :D**

Around 3 in the morning, Summer awoke unexpectedly from a somewhat heavy slumber to find that it had happened again. She hadn't thought it would and she had hoped and prayed that it wouldn't, but as fate would have it... it did.

She was, once again, sleeping in Bucky's arms.

This time, rather than her using him as a life-size body pillow, he was curled around _her_. His chest was pressed to her back and his arm was wrapped around her middle, his face buried in her hair just behind her neck, and there was hardly a part of him that _wasn't_ pressed against her.

She blinked a few times and very quickly felt rather wide awake, closing her eyes in despair that she had ended up here again. She blamed the too-small bed and the entire ridiculous situation they were in, the pretending and the kissing and _everything_. And now she had to figure out a way out of his arms without waking him, then take on the surely even harder task of falling back asleep.

Except she didn't _want_ to move. He was warm and he felt amazing against her, breathing deeply and evenly as he slept obliviously, clearly having no idea who he was snuggling with. She wanted to stay right where she was and enjoy it while she could.

And since he was asleep... maybe she could get away with it, unlike the last time this had happened.

She took a deep breath and then released it, shifting just enough to resettle her head on her pillow and curl her legs more snugly with his. She didn't have the guts to lay her hand over his and pull his arm closer, so she tucked her hand under her pillow instead and closed her eyes. She thought that she was safe and that she hadn't disturbed him or roused him, and she let herself relax and try to fall back asleep.

The room was almost completely quiet save for the faint sounds of their breathing. Summer found herself drifting back to sleep much sooner than she expected, and she was halfway to dreamland when the arm around her tightened just barely and a deep exhale of warm breath tickled her neck.

Her eyes opened again, and she remained as still as she possibly could. Bucky burrowed closer to her until his nose was grazing the back of her neck, and then his arm moved and his hand began... _drifting_.

It didn't go far or venture into scandalous territory, but it did slide softly over her belly and end up resting on her hip. To make matters worse, her camisole had ridden up just enough so that most of his hand was resting on bare skin, and between that and his breath on her neck, Summer's heart was pounding and she was staring wide-eyed and unfocused into the darkness of the room in front of her.

His breathing was still even, so she assumed that he was still asleep. But then she felt his warm feet slide softly against hers, and his fingers on her hip curled into a real _grip_ on her skin, and now his lips were brushing incredibly faintly against her neck and she felt her skin erupt with goosebumps before she panicked and opened her mouth.

"Bucky, wake up," she said, and he immediately stilled. He even held his breath, she knew because she could no longer feel it on her skin, and she waited for the inevitable horrified pulling away and muttered apologies.

What came instead stunned her.

"I _am_ awake," he murmured, voice low and a little heavy with sleep but not as much as she would have expected.

Her breath caught. "... Oh."

And then they were frozen. Summer laid there like a statue, having no idea what to do and what to make of the fact that he was apparently awake and aware of his actions. Bucky didn't move a muscle either except to breathe, and even that didn't come easy.

But his hand was still on her hip - her mostly bare hip - and his lips were nearly brushing along the back of her neck with his every inhale and exhale. Her blood was pumping and her mind was racing, and the longer they laid there, unmoving and afraid to stop or proceed, the more she freaked out inside.

Then she felt soft, warm lips brush just slightly against her ear. " _Summer_..."

The low purr of his voice as he said her name was almost enough to make her _moan_ , but she controlled herself and instead replied in far too weak a voice, "What?"

His thumb rubbed softly over her hip, the touch surprisingly intimate for how simple and innocent it was. "... Do you want me to stop?"

 _No_ , her brain all but screamed, but the only response that she could push through her lips was one that was as bewildered as she was. "Why?"

He made an indiscernible noise and then dropped his forehead on top of her shoulder. He only stayed there for a moment, however, before he lifted his head back up and asked in a mixture of helplessness and exasperation, "Do I really need to spell it out?"

She bit her lip and closed her eyes, mentally steeling herself. It looked like the moment had finally arrived, the breaking point that she had been both anticipating and dreading, and neither of them were escaping it this time. So she told herself to be brave and rolled over on to her back, a shiver ripping through her body when she looked up into his eyes and realized how close they were now, laying like this. He was leaned on his elbow and now his face was dangerously close to hers, and the hand that had been on her hip was now pressed flat against her belly.

"You can't tell me you don't know," he said softly, eyes locked with hers.

With every new word he spoke, her heart pounded harder. "Know what?"

A pained look crossed his face and he looked away. "Summer, _fuck_..."

He shook his head slightly and then met her scared, confused, hopeful gaze again. He then he realized that maybe showing rather than telling was the better, wiser course of action.

His hand left her belly and reached her face. He cupped her cheek gently, eyes drifting down to her lips and staring at them for a moment like there was nothing in the world that he wanted more.

Her heart wasn't pounding anymore. It was vibrating out of her chest and threatening to stop altogether.

He leaned down, looking her in the eye until he was so close that his nose brushed hers. Then his eyes fell closed and he kissed her, his lips a soft but firm and _desperate_ press against hers that sent fireworks exploding through her nerves and eclipsed their earlier kiss in a way that she couldn't yet comprehend. It was simple and sweet but so full of feeling and so much _longing,_ all of it achingly and undeniably mutual. Summer could _feel_ how much he meant the kiss and how incredibly real it truly was.

His hand slid into her hair, curling into a gentle fist to hold her closer as she kissed him back. Her previously paralyzed hands found their way to his shoulders and then to his hair, further messing up his already sleep-mussed bun, and he _groaned_ when his tongue brushed hers. She shuddered, her mouth opening against his in a desperate invitation, and he took it without a second thought. Suddenly their sweetly intense kiss became a furious, passionate wreck, and Summer was the one to let out a breathless moan next, in the midst of all the hunger.

The sound made Bucky break away for a moment, their eyes meeting again as they breathed hotly into the small space between their lips. Then Bucky let out a small needy sound and dropped his head back down, this time bringing his lips to her neck and making it his mission to find which spots were the most sensitive. He kissed behind her ear and under it, tugged her lobe gently with his teeth and flicked his tongue over it, and when that made her gasp and scratch her nails into his scalp, he smirked lightly to himself and then kept going. He kissed all over her neck, nipping and licking here and there, mapping her out and making her squirm underneath him.

Summer hadn't realized that she had been slowly dragging up his shirt with her fists until Bucky left her neck to sit up and reach behind his head, yanking off his shirt and tossing it away. It was, without a doubt, the hottest thing that Summer had ever seen in her life up until that point.

Then he grabbed her and turned them over, and all of a sudden, Summer was on top of him. Her hands were on his bare chest and her mind was racing, her body on fire and brain little more than mush as he leaned up and crashed their lips together again. It was a blur of passion and heat, like the dam had finally burst and now the whole damn world was being flooded and nothing could stop it.

He sat up and pulled her against him, hands on her hips and venturing slowly under the hem of her shirt, and it was the sensation of his fingertips sliding up her skin that made Summer's brain suddenly kickstart back into gear.

"Wait, wait," she panted, pulling away and holding him back by his shoulders. His eyes met hers, dark with lust and need, and being looked at in _that_ way by _him_ was almost more than she could handle. This was everything she'd ever wanted, everything that she had spent so long pining for, and yet now that it was in her reach... she was terrified.

"What's wrong?" he asked, unable to help himself from stealing another kiss after the words left his mouth.

His lips felt like heaven against hers, but her brain was screaming and she had no choice but to give voice to the thoughts suddenly racing through her head like a crazed ping pong ball. "Bucky, I can't... if this is just... sex, I can't..." Bucky furrowed his brows slightly, and she huffed in frustration and tried to better gather her words. "I know this week has been weird and... you kissed me and we acted like we were together and it was great, but I can't just... I can't just hook up with you and then act like it never happened."

"... That's what you think I want?" he asked quietly, eyes searching hers. "You think I just want to use you for what, a... a quick fuck and then that's it, we go back home and everything's back to normal again?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "But I _can't_ do that."

"Neither can I," he replied softly, hands smoothing down her legs. "That's not what I want, Summer. I can have that with anybody. I want _you_."

Despite their current position and what they had been doing for the last few minutes, those words still managed to shock her. She blinked and asked almost timidly, like she was afraid to believe it, "You do?"

His lips stretched into an affectionate smile. "You're really that surprised?"

"Well... _yeah_ ," she smiled back.

"I _sang_ to you," he pointed out. "I used every excuse I could to kiss you and get my hands on you ever since we started pretending we were together. I've been making a fool out of myself over you _forever_."

Her mouth hung open dumbly, her mind trying to find some kind of loophole she could use to shoot down what he was saying and prove him wrong, but for once she told her brain to shut the hell up.

Instead of letting self-doubt and irrationality cloud the moment, she took a breath and quietly noted, "You remembered my dress and my hair. From the day we met."

His grin was a bit lopsided. "Yeah."

"But your memory... and you were still with her," Summer pointed out.

He nodded. "Yeah. I didn't look at you like that," he assured her. "It wasn't like that. But... from the minute I first saw you, Summer, I knew you were special. You were never just some girl I knew. You've always been special to me."

Summer couldn't help the tears that welled up behind her eyes. She didn't let them fall, but they were there and she couldn't help the swell of emotions. And while they were being honest for a change... "When you walked in for that interview I almost had a heart attack," she giggled, and he smiled too. "And then you turned out to be engaged, and... I think from then on I just always knew you'd never want me like that, even once you were single again. I just... I'm used to things like that."

"Well, you were wrong," he replied gently, leaning forward and laying a short, sweet kiss on her lips. Then he kissed the corner of her mouth and began peppering tiny little kisses along her jaw, murmuring, "I've been wanting to do this for a _long time_."

" _God_ , me too," she groaned, closing her eyes and sliding a hand back into his hair, despite her fingers being met by the hair tie keeping most of his hair contained.

"Go on, take it down," Bucky said, nipping a spot under her ear that made her jerk before soothing it with his tongue. "That's one thing about me I _always_ knew you liked."

She giggled, carefully tugging on the hair tie and pulling it free. "Am I that obvious?"

"When it comes to my hair, _yeah_ ," Bucky grinned, pulling away from her neck as she tossed the hair tie aside and smoothed his long hair out with her fingers. "S'why I grew it this long in the first place."

She paused and looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

He nodded, grinning at the rising blush on her cheeks. "Like I said, I make a fool out of myself over you."

Unable to hold back any longer, Summer crashed her lips down on his, fingers clutching and twisting in his hair as he pulled her as close against him as he could. The slight change allowed her to feel how _hard_ he was beneath her, something that sent her heart beating even faster and led her to rock herself down against him without fully realizing it. He groaned into her mouth and kissed her back more furiously, hands tightening on her hips and encouraging her to do it again, and she gladly followed his lead.

When they had both depleted their air supplies, Bucky broke away first with a roughly hissed curse. Then he pressed a kiss to the base of her throat, then along her collarbone, and further down her chest until his lips skimmed along the lace trim of her camisole's neckline. As goosebumps popped up along every inch of skin he touched, she kept one hand in his hair and let the other stroke softly over the heavily scarred flesh of his left arm.

It wasn't the first time that she had touched the scars left courtesy of the same IED blast that that altered his brain chemistry and left him frustratingly forgetful. There had been one other time, the first time she walked into his apartment and saw him in short sleeves for the first time. He had showed her the entirety of the damage, explaining how he'd been lucky to keep the arm at all after a severe infection has exacerbated the already terrible injuries, and she had traced the worst of the faded lines and marks with fingertips that he couldn't fully feel. His phone ringing had interrupted them that first time, but there were no distractions this time around.

Rather than tensing or shying away from her touch, Bucky paused and turned his head, gently kissed the back of her hand as it rested on his shoulder, and then he nuzzled her chest again and took a shaky breath.

"We don't have to do this," he told her, saying the words against her skin and trying to control the slight shake of his voice. "If this is too fast, we can stop."

She had never heard a more terrible idea in her entire life. "I don't want to stop," she immediately replied. "I might actually die if we stop."

"Thank God," he groaned, pulling back and hands reaching up to gently slide each strap of her top down her shoulders. She kissed him again, hungry and a little sloppy, rolling her hips against his for good measure, and he groaned and yanked down her top a little faster and rougher than he had first intended. She didn't mind in the least - quite the opposite - and she pulled her arms out of the straps as he broke their kiss.

Her top pulled down and bunched at her waist, she watched Bucky's eyes all but glue themselves to her braless form. She almost felt a twinge of self-consciousness before he brought up both of his hands to cup each breast, leaning in and groaning, " _Fuck_ , they're even better than I imagined."

Then he was kissing each one, starting at the top and working his way to the center, fingers teasing where his mouth wasn't already occupied, and Summer had never felt _so much_ from so little before. Grinding on his lap again and feeling like she might just lose it if he kept this up, she asked breathlessly, "Imagine them a lot?"

"More times than I can remember," he admitted, drawing back just enough to look up at her. His tongue flicked out softly on her nipple, licking and then swirling before returning to his mouth long enough for him to add, "Don't think there's much I haven't imagined when it comes to you."

She let out a whimper that got lost in the sound of their bodies and the sheets around them rustling as he gathered her up and tossed her on her back. Her head hit the pillow and she smiled up at him, biting her lip when he grinned back and grasped her top to pull it down from her waist. He made sure that her shorts went with the top, pulling both down her legs and throwing them somewhere on the foot of the bed. Leaving her in just a pair of tiny black panties - a nice, silky pair that she was now quite happy she'd chosen earlier - a shiver raced down her spine as his eyes ran slowly up her body until their gazes met. Then he was on top of her, palm running up her hip and side and then settling on her breast as he kissed her again, long and open-mouthed and hungry.

She couldn't think. She couldn't speak or hardly breathe, and this was only getting started.

" _God_ ," he breathed when he pulled away, giving her breast one last little squeeze before letting his hand drift down. Kissing her neck and caressing down her belly, he murmured, "Never thought I'd get to touch you like this. I've thought about it so many times, _so fucking much_..."

"Me too," she admitted breathlessly, just barely holding in a gasp when his fingers skimmed the top of her lace panties and then moved over them, his palm applying the lightest pressure possible.

"Yeah? What'd you think about?" he asked, raising his head and kissing her lips once more as he kept up the teasing. "You're _soaked_ , baby," he purred, the silky fabric tellingly damp beneath his fingertips. "You ever get this wet when you thought about me?"

She was sure that her entire body blushed in response to _that_. She couldn't find words to answer with, so she pulled him down to kiss him instead as her hips rocked gently against his hand, desperately needing more contact.

He kissed the hell out of her like she wanted, but he didn't forget his line of questioning. "Tell me," he said lowly after breaking the kiss, taking his fingers away only for a second, so he could slide them down the front of her panties. "What did you dream up? Did you think about this," he finally directly touched her, rubbing softly and slowly and making her hips jerk as she bit back a moan. "Did you ever come all over your own fingers, pretending they were mine?" When she moaned a bit incoherently, he bit his lip and grinned as he noted, "You _do_ love this kind of talk, don't you?"

She didn't need to answer. The truth was written plainly on her face and further evidenced by the ever-growing wetness around his fingers.

"Come on, tell me," he pressed, kissing her lips, her cheek, her jaw. "If you do, I'll tell you something, too."

 _That_ got her attention. "I did," she quickly admitted, desperate for whatever he would tell her next and desperate for more of _everything_. "I thought about you. And this. A _lot_."

His eyes flashed with unimaginable lust, and she was fairly sure she'd felt something hard pressed to her hip twitch. "Ever use anything but your fingers?" When she flushed harder and tried to shy away, he gave her a sweet kiss and also quickened the pace of his fingers, murmuring, "Come on, tell me. What else did you use? Some little toy you like playing with?"

She shook her head and replied as quietly as she could, "A pillow."

His rhythm faltered for a minute, that dark look in his eyes growing even more unfathomable upon her admission. The visual that she had just graced his imagination with was almost more than he could handle. His voice was deep and heavy with need as he nearly _growled_ , "You like to fuck yourself on your pillows, baby?"

She let out a moan she couldn't contain, his words making what his fingers were doing feel impossibly more intense. " _Oh God._.."

"That's so fucking hot," he groaned, kissing her all over in between each word. "I bet you made a mess on that pillow, didn't you? But you didn't care 'cause it felt too fucking good to stop. I know the feeling."

She had one hand fisting his hair and the other between his shoulder blades, nails biting down into his skin as she got closer and closer with every new word out of his mouth. His hand was moving faster, fingers playing her like an instrument he'd already mastered, but he wasn't quite done with her yet.

"Couple weeks ago I was in my office, had just finished up my last appointment for the day," he said, nose skimming along her jaw, lips pressing here and there, lazily like he had all the time in the world. "Ended up dozing off in the middle of doing my paperwork. Had a dream with you in it... woke up hard as a fucking rock."

Her eyes opened to lock with his, a whimper escaping her throat. He dreamed of her? Like _that_?

"I don't have dreams like that a lot, but when I do..." he bit his lip and did something with his wrist that made her cry out. He grinned. "Can't remember exactly what was going on, but... pretty sure you were on top, riding me and getting yourself off. I could feel how fucking tight you were and that's what had me so hard when I woke up. So there I was, sitting there behind my desk all alone... I thought about you and how good you felt, how much better you'd feel if it had been real... it made me come so fast, so fucking hard..."

And just like that, she was done for. Mind full of filthy images and body _singing_ for him, Summer let out a deep gasp followed by an almost shocked-sounding moan that ripped out of her throat and reverberated around the quiet room and, unbeknownst to her, woke up one of their slumbering _neighbors_.

On the other side of the wall, Loki's eyes opened. He blinked once or twice, unsure as to what had just roused him from his rather heavy sleep. Aemilia was curled to his side, her head pillowed on his chest, the sheets barely covering their equally naked bodies, and he was exceptionally comfortable. He let out a breath and closed his eyes, holding Aemilia a little closer and trying to fall back asleep when a rather loud and impressively blissful feminine moan echoed through the thin hotel wall and directly into his ear.

His eyes shot open again and narrowed. That voice had sounded _quite_ familiar.

Then Aemilia's head shot up, the moan having roused her as well. "What was that?"

Then there was one more moan, a quieter one this time, one that might come flying out of a woman's mouth as she starts to come down from her high. Aemilia's eyes met Loki's and her jaw dropped.

"That was _Summer_."

"Are you sure?"

Aemilia gave Loki a _look_ and replied, "I know exactly what she sounds like when she moans, remember?"

Loki smirked. "Ah, yes. Silly me."

Aemilia grinned back. "Do you think it finally happened?"

"Well," he sighed, "either she just had the world's best dream, or yes, it finally happened."

Aemilia smiled excitedly and then scrambled off of him as gracefully as she could so that she could press her ear to the wall behind their bed and confirm the theory. If it was true... she was going to be absolutely _overjoyed_ for them.

Meanwhile, back in Bucky and Summer's bed, he was kissing her deeply and passionately after having helped ease her back down to earth. She was still clinging to him, trembling slightly and breathing delightfully hard against his mouth and whining when he finally pulled his fingers away from her.

His forehead leaned on hers, he murmured adoringly, "You're so beautiful."

"I'm... I..." _I'm overwhelmed and I might pass out and die now, but that would be fine because it would be the best way anyone's ever died._

 _"_ It's okay, shh," he urged her, leaving one last kiss on her lips before trailing down again. He kissed along her throat, dragging his lips down her collarbone and chest as he groaned, "God, you're fucking perfect."

She knew that she was far from perfect, but whatever protest she might have had died in her throat when his lips closed around her nipple and began her torture anew. She squirmed in pleasure, barely recovered from what his fingers had done to her, and the inequality of the situation became clear to her when she looked down and saw that he still had his damn pants on.

She put her hands on his shoulders to still him. "Bucky, I want - you're not..." She huffed in frustration. Apparently this man had left her unable to form a single coherent sentence. "I want to... I want a turn to..."

He looked up at her and grinned, taking her wrists and laying them on either side of her head. "You'll get your turn, I promise. But I'm not done with you yet."

"But -"

He gave her a gentle kiss to hush her, then told her with a slight grin, "I've been waiting almost two years to taste you, sweetheart. And I don't think I can wait another minute."

Then he was moving down again, leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses in his wake, and Summer was on fire again from his words alone. He kissed his way to her belly button and then sat back on his knees to pull her thoroughly ruined panties down her hips and off her legs. That was when Summer caught a glimpse of how hard and straining he was under his flimsy pants, and knowing that _she_ had caused it and that she was also entirely to blame for the slightly wild look in his eye gave her a intoxicating thrill that she'd never experienced before.

He knelt back down, hand running up one leg from her knee to her inner thigh, nudging the limb further away from her other one. She almost shrunk away from him a little bit, nerves coming back at the prospect of being so utterly exposed to him, but when he lifted her leg and kissed above her knee and further up, relaxing her leg over his shoulder, anticipation began to outweigh everything else.

He nipped at her inner thigh, soothing the bite with his tongue and then looking up at her with the audacity to _smirk_.

"You know, of everything... I think I always thought about _this_ the most," he admitted, hands curling around her hips and pulling her down a little closer. "One of these days I'm gonna get you to ride my face, but I'll go easy on you this time."

Summer made some kind of strangled noise between a whimper and a whine, covering her eyes with her hands and muttering, "You're gonna kill me."

He chuckled, and she could feel his hot breath wash over her, tickling a little and giving away how close he was to tasting her. "Nah. Just gonna finally fucking devour you."

She would have pointed out that the two things were quite the same, but then there was a soft, deceptively innocent kiss from his lips and she couldn't speak. She dropped her hands from her face and covered one of his hands with hers, needing something to anchor her to reality as he made good on his word and thoroughly, hungrily took her apart.

He made faint sounds low in his throat like a starving man, growing deeper and more frequent as he went from slowly easing her in to the act to devouring her like he'd promised. His fingers intertwined with hers, his other hand sometimes holding her thigh as it trembled on his shoulder and sometimes reaching up to squeeze and tease her breast, other times holding her down with his palm flat on her belly when her movements threatened to grow too erratic. He glanced up at her sometimes, finding the sight of her moaning softly with her eyes closed and back arched to be immeasurably, infinitely better than any fantasy he'd ever concocted in his head.

He had a level of skill for what he was doing that she had never experienced before. That skill coupled with how much he _enjoyed_ it as well as the fact that it was _Bucky_ and that this was really, truly happening made it an almost otherworldly experience and utterly overwhelming. She lost her head and any sense of shame or shyness in those perfect moments, gripping his hand tight and letting herself be as loud as she wanted to be. And when it all came to a head and he pushed her over the edge, it eclipsed her previous release so dramatically that she _almost_ passed out, and she also _might_ have screamed a little bit. She wasn't sure and she didn't care, either.

On the other side of the wall, Aemilia's eyes widened. "She just... _screamed_."

"Seeing as he's been completely silent," Loki added, "I presume that he must be exceptionally talented with his tongue."

"I would expect nothing less," Aemilia giggled. "I'm just so happy for them. Our evil plan appears to have worked."

"I have no idea what evil plan you speak of," Loki grinned. "I am innocent."

Aemilia rolled her eyes. "You are _never_ innocent."

Meanwhile, Summer had sunk so deeply into the bed that she might have feared disintegrating altogether if she had possessed any of her mind. But as it was, Bucky had left already wrecked and mindless in the best of ways, and she could have drifted off to sleep then and not moved a muscle until morning.

But she still had work to do. Bucky carefully eased her limp leg off of his shoulder and down to the bed, looking over the beautifully disheveled woman lying before him and feeling a distinct sense of pride in having reduced her to that. He also felt a _lot_ of other things, emotions that were so swollen and strong that he could barely keep inside, and there was still a fair amount of shock that this was _finally_ happening.

All this time, all this waiting, and all this _doubting_ , and they were finally here. He knew he was an idiot for waiting so long, but he couldn't bring himself to feel anything other than bliss as he carefully kissed up her body, nuzzling her jaw when he reached it and then laying a sweet kiss on her lips.

She opened her eyes after, her blue depths giving away how _gone_ she was when they locked with his, and he couldn't help but marvel, " _God, look at you_."

She gave him a watery smile, those words melting her heart even more. Then she found her voice and replied, "No, look at _you_." Her hands moved down his sides and her fingers hooked into the sides of the waistband of his pants as she added, "You're still wearing _pants_."

He chuckled as she slid the fabric down as far as she could in their current position. "Guess I got a little too distracted for my own good."

Then he gave her a kiss and she giggled just before he rolled off of her so that he could more easily remove the offending remaining items of clothing. She pushed up on her elbows, the feeling in her limbs mostly restored by now, and once he was naked and moving to get back on her, she stopped him with a hand to his chest and pushed him down on his back. "You promised I'd get a turn."

He grinned and happily acquiesced to her wishes, watching her swing one leg over his hips and then settle on top of him. "Maybe I wasn't done with mine yet."

"Well, I need a break before I die," she giggled.

He grinned and pulled her down to kiss him, telling her lowly, "You haven't seen _anything_ yet, baby."

If _that_ was true, she was fairly sure she might not survive a relationship with this man. But that was just an afterthought as she pressed her lips to his, her breasts dragging against his chest and their skin sliding together hotly everywhere they touched. She felt as if she had barely gotten the chance to touch him and feel him for herself, what with his focus having been so wholly and aggressively on her, and she was more than ready to fix that now.

She smiled at him when their kiss ended, his hair a mess around his head and against his pillow, eyes dark with need but also light with pure affection. He bit his lip and slid his hands up her thighs and hips, fingers digging pleasantly hard into her skin as she lowered her head and kissed his neck, just under his jaw. She set out to learn him as he had learned her, and she didn't come away empty handed.

She found that he was most sensitive near his pulse point, and that if she grazed over that spot with her teeth, he'd curse and shudder underneath her. He also loved his hair being touched and played with, and he loved it even more when she prevented him from sitting up by grabbing a fistful of his locks and pulling him back down. In fact, he had moaned a little and she had felt a distinct little twitch against her thigh just after. Loki had been right about that little hair-pulling thing of his, after all.

She had been exploring his chest with her mouth when her hand reached down between them and rubbed over where he ached the most, and the strangled sound that left his throat was one of the best things she'd ever heard. Still hardly able to believe that it was real, she trailed her tongue down the toned abs that she had previously only occasionally gotten to admire from afar and stroked him slowly and gently. She didn't want to tease, but she also got the feeling that he was a wound up so tightly that anything more might have him facing a bit of an early end.

He was panting quietly by the time her mouth reached the place she wanted it to go. He was watching her, lips parted and and struggle for control evident in his eyes. He didn't dare avert his gaze as she licked her lips, hand still moving up and down, _up and down_ , then staying down and keeping him firmly in her grip as she closed her eyes and gave him one long, hot lick.

" _Fuck_ ," he cursed, whether more from the feeling or the sight of it she wasn't sure, and then she brought him fully into her mouth. Her free hand laying over his hipbone, she felt him tense and heard his rough exhale that became a moan the further she took him in. His fingers slid into her hair, eyes still intent upon her, and then suddenly, before she had a chance to really get started, he started chanting _stop, stop_ and gently pulled her off.

"What?" she asked, somewhat dazed and not at all happy to have to stop. She looked up and watched him drop his head back on the pillow, breathing hard with his eyes closed.

"Sorry," he murmured, hand absently stroking along her shoulder. "Just... that was gonna be over _way_ too fast."

"Oh," she smiled, deciding to take a little bit of pride in those words. She then let him pull her back up, settling on top of him again and kissing him with that same stubborn little smile stuck on her lips.

"You're _amazing_ ," he groaned, hands moving up her back and then back down, touching her everywhere he could. She smiled and he looked her in the eyes with that potent mixture of heat and affection, telling her, "I still can't believe this is real."

She her smile widened, so full of happiness that it made his heart swell. "I still can't believe you really feel this way about me."

He sighed, holding her close and sitting up with her in his lap. He tucked her hair behind her ears, eyes tracing her features in the dim light of the room. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Me too," she replied sincerely.

"I never meant to hurt you, I just... I was scared, and..."

Now it was her turn to hush him, and she did, with a soft kiss that he melted into. It wasn't long before that kiss deepened and led to many more, and Summer couldn't wait any longer. He needed her and she needed him, and they had both waited _more_ than long enough.

He watched her reach between them and take him in her hand, guiding him where she wanted him. But then she reached out with her other hand and tipped up his chin, their eyes meeting for one quiet second before her lips touched his. Then she was sliding down on him, taking each inch as slowly as she could as much out of necessity as out of the desire to _feel_ as much as possible.

It had been a long time for her, and Bucky could tell. She felt impossibly tight, nearly strangling him to death in the best possible way, and he broke the kiss just to curse as he pressed his forehead to hers.

She let out the breath that she had been holding once she had taken him all the way in. She took a minute to breathe, and Bucky couldn't help but groan, "God, Summer, you feel so fucking good."

She smiled but then babbled, "It's been awhile since I've done this, so if I suck, or... if it's just -"

"Don't do that," he told her, looking in her eyes. "Stop doubting yourself. I mean it. You've _seen_ what you do to me. And you can feel it right now."

He was right. He was so very right, and it was the last little push that she needed to leave her thoughts behind and simply _feel_ instead. She nodded and kissed him, and then slowly enough to drive them both utterly mad, she started to move.

From the very beginning, it was different from anything she had ever felt before. She'd had her share of boyfriends and she thought that she knew it all, but as it turned out, she had no _idea_. The intimacy of it, the way his fingers burned on her hips as he helped her rock up and down, the look in his eye as he watched her and the way that he kissed her in the midst of it all - it was like none of her previous experiences. Her heart felt like it was going to explode and her every nerve was on fire, and the way that Bucky was breathing and looking at her when his lips weren't on her, she knew that he felt the same.

Moving a little faster and taking him in deeper, she let out a moan when his arms wrapped around her and his face dropped to her neck. "You feel so good," he groaned against her skin, thrusting up to meet her every movement. "Even better than I imagined. So much better..."

Another low growl was all the warning she had before his hold tightened on her, and suddenly she was on her back and underneath him once again. She smiled up at him but his expression was so serious and heartfelt that it made her heart leap in her chest. He moved within her slowly but deeply, hitting all the right places that no man ever had before, and they kissed one more time before words started tumbling from his mouth and blowing her mind.

"You mean so much to me," he said, barely above a whisper, cradling her head like she was precious. His messy hair framed his face, some of the longer strands tickling her cheek, but it was his eyes that were the most beautiful thing about him in that moment. " _So much_ , baby."

All she could do was hold on to him and move with his sweet, perfect rhythm, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. She was so happy to be in his arms, to finally know the truth of his own feelings and to be there with him in bed, both of them so open and vulnerable but trusting each other with everything they had.

He watched her eyes grow watery, watched her smile and felt her clench around him slightly when he brushed against the right spot within her. He kept doing it, watching her lips part and a sweet sigh escape her lungs, and that was when he broke. He was helpless to stop himself, helpless to hold back the words that had been on the tip of his tongue and hidden in his heart for far too long.

"I love you."

If it hadn't already, that was the moment Summer's world spun on its axis. She looked up at him with big, wide eyes, his words sending her tears over the edge and spilling down her cheeks.

"I love you _so much_ ," he said again, gazing at her with that tender, loving look in his eye that was almost her undoing. She had always wanted to be looked at by a man in that way, and now that he was - Bucky, the man she had wanted _forever_ \- it exceeded far beyond even all her wildest dreams.

"I love you too," she said back, smiling like an idiot and all but _rejoicing_ inside for finally getting to say those words to him. "I think I've loved you forever."

He smiled back, just as wrecked as she was, and then they were kissing again and for once, all was right with the world. The missing pieces had finally found their way home, and they were both exactly where they were meant to be.

The air between them even more charged following their long-delayed confessions, everything became even more intense and they couldn't hold back any longer. Bucky's languid pace became faster and more desperate, each thrust still making her see stars and let out quiet moans whenever it became too much. He kissed her lips and her neck, ran his hand from her leg slung around his hip to her side to her breast, just barely hanging on for her sake.

His forehead was pressed to hers and the headboard was smacking against the wall when she gasped and fell apart from the inside out. He watched her writhe and tremble and moan through every wave of pleasure, her tightening around him pulling him down off the edge right with her. Before she was able to see straight again, he cried out against her lips and gave her a sight that she would never forget for the rest of her days.

Then, once again, the room fell silent save for the mingling sounds of their heavy breathing. His face was buried against her neck, his body a welcome weight on top of hers, and Summer's fingers carded lazily through his hair as she laid there in utter bliss.

 _He loved her_.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, smiling to herself and feeling like she was the luckiest woman alive. Maybe she was.

"Sorry," Bucky muttered when he finally moved to get off of her. "I'm crushing you."

"You can crush me all you want," she grinned, making him smile back as he rolled off of her.

He laid on his back and pulled her close, and she happily curled up to his side and laid her head on his chest. He managed to pull some of the sheets up and over them as well, and once they were settled, Summer felt like she could close her eyes and sleep for a week. It _was_ the middle of the night, after all.

He kissed her forehead. "I meant it, you know. Everything I said."

"Me too," she replied, leaning her head back to peek up at him. She smiled and added, "I've been wanting to say it forever. I almost did a couple times when I was drunk around you. Would have been so embarrassing."

He chuckled and leaned in closer, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "Might have saved us a lot of trouble."

She sighed. "Yeah, but... I don't think I'd change anything. I think everything's turned out exactly the way it was supposed to."

He grinned. "You think so?"

"Seems that way," she smiled.

"Yeah, you're right," he replied, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Nothing new there. You're always right."

"... We're off to an even better start than I thought."

They both laughed quietly at that, a comfortable silence following in the moments that followed. At least until Summer thought back to the events of the prior night and suddenly froze.

"... Bucky?"

"Yeah?"

"... You know how we could hear everything Loki and Aemilia were doing earlier?"

"Yeah."

Summer paused. "Do you think they could... hear us, or..."

"... I'm sure they're asleep."

"Yeah, but we were pretty loud. Or at least _I_ was. Oh God. They probably heard everything."

"At least then we'd be even," Bucky replied sleepily, earning a half-hearted slap on his shoulder that made him laugh. "Go to sleep, sweetheart. We'll figure it out in the morning."

Summer let out a sigh and gave in, getting comfy against him once more. "Okay."

He kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

She smiled widely, and he could _feel_ her smile against his chest. "I love you too."

Meanwhile, back in Loki and Aemilia's room, they were both now wide awake following the rather unexpected _show_. But what better to while the time away with than hatching more evil plans?

"We should act like we heard nothing," Loki proposed, arm slung around Aemilia's waist as he played big spoon to her little spoon. "Then, when they're convinced they're in the clear, we casually mention how Bucky is a rather loud moaner when he comes."

"You know I'm not going to be able to say nothing," Aemilia rolled her eyes. "The minute I see Summer, she's going to have an incredibly stupid look on her face and she's going to smile and so am I and then she will probably tell me everything that happened in one enormous run-on sentence."

"Well, damn," Loki muttered. "How else am I supposed to get some fun out of this?"

Aemilia thought for a moment and then replied, "Just mention how now that they are... intimately acquainted, your proposal for a foursome now makes even better sense than it did earlier tonight. She will probably choke and he will likely not be able to stand without drawing unwanted attention to himself."

Loki grinned and chuckled, pressing a kiss to the back of her shoulder. "I like how your mind works, woman."

"You like how my _everything_ works," she noted.

"You know me all too well," he replied before kissing the back of her neck and settling his head next to hers on the pillow they shared. Within only a few minutes, the couple followed their neighbors back into a deep sleep, with no more loud and unexpected sounds from one room over waking either pair.

* * *

A good hour or so past Summer's usual morning wake-up time, the sound of her phone buzzing with a new text message slowly brought her out of blissful sleep and back into reality. She blinked a few times and momentarily forgot where she was, only knowing that she wasn't in her own bedroom and that everything was very warm. And she quickly realized why.

She was in Bucky's arms, and they were snuggled together under the covers. She realized with a slight jolt that she was naked - and so was Bucky - and that was when everything came rushing back to her and left her breathless.

It hadn't all been a dream. They really _had_ woken up in the middle of the night in each other's arms and had given into the tension between them, and it had been... absolutely _incredible_. The way that he had kissed her, touched her, _spoke_ to her, felt inside of her... it all seemed almost too good to be real, but it was.

And he had told her that he loved her. He _loved_ her.

She smiled and felt her heart swell beneath her ribs, skipping happily as the realness of it all slowly sunk in. It hadn't been a dream or one of her many fantasies. It had been far better than any of those could have been. It was real and it was here and...

... And she needed to brush her teeth before he woke up because she was _not_ ruining the beauty of it all with morning breath.

It wasn't easy, but she managed to slip out of Bucky's arms and get out of bed without waking him. She took a moment to stare at his peaceful, sweet face before silently getting to her feet and grabbing his white button-down shirt from the night before off of the top of his open suitcase. She had yet to meet a man who didn't like a woman wearing his shirt, so she figured it was a no brainer as she quietly slipped it on and made her way to bathroom.

Closing the door behind her with a soft click, Summer walked to the sink and stopped short when she saw her reflection. Her hair was a mess and her face was a bit flushed but what caught her eye was the marks all over her neck. She saw at least three, two on one side and a third down closer to her collarbone, and she touched each of them gently as she smiled to herself.

Her thighs ached from the use of muscles that hadn't seen any action in a _very_ long time. Her skin was still practically singing with his touch, as if she could still feel his fingertips trailing up and down and his lips kissing her _everywhere_. Perhaps most vivid of all was the memory of how it felt to be underneath his weight, not stifling or overwhelming at all but instead making her feel blissfully and perfectly safe. Being with him had been so completely different from anything she'd ever felt with other men, utterly incomparable and on another level that she hadn't even known existed.

This, she realized as she turned on the water with her stubborn smile and grabbed her toothbrush, was what it must feel like to be thoroughly and utterly _ruined_. This was what Aemilia's song was about. She finally understood, and it was an amazing and somewhat terrifying thing to realize.

She spent five minutes or so in the bathroom, brushing her hair and taking all the time she needed to feel presentable, knowing she was probably being ridiculous but not really caring - she needed the few minutes to herself to try to calm her nerves. And when she couldn't stall any longer, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, venturing back out to where Bucky was.

She stopped in her tracks almost immediately. He was awake and sitting up in bed, still _very_ naked with just one thin sheet barely covering his lap, his long hair a beautiful mess on his shoulders. Their eyes met in an instant, and then he was trailing his gaze down over her body and the way that his shirt looked upon it.

"Hey," he grinned, eyes eventually making their way back up to hers. "Thought you ran off or something."

"No, no," she smiled, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious and pulling on one of the sleeves of his shirt. "I was just... you know. Brushing my teeth and stuff."

This wasn't exactly the glowing, blissful morning-after scenario that she would have preferred, and the longer that she stood there, the hotter her face grew and the more like an idiot she felt.

But Bucky didn't share her mild distress. Eyes lingering on her bare legs and thighs that his shirt just _barely_ covered, he said in a tone that gave her goosebumps, "I like you in my shirt."

She smiled and stammered out, "Yeah, I, um... I saw it laying there, so... I, uh..."

Although Summer wanted to bang her head into the wall to spare herself further embarrassment, Bucky simply grinned and licked his lips before gently and lowly saying, "Come here, Summer."

 _That_ she could do. Relieved to now have a sense of direction, her legs moved and took her to the bed almost all on their own, as her brain tried to catch up. She stopped just in front of Bucky, and he looked up at her and bit his lip before reaching out and taking her hand. He pulled her into his lap, hands settling on her hips as he looked her up and down again. " _Damn_. I _really_ like you in my shirt."

She smiled and rested her hands on his shoulders, hardly able to believe that this was normal now - touching him like this, wearing his shirt and nothing else, sitting in his _naked_ lap. "Well... I really like you like this," she replied with a blush.

He smirked, one hand reaching up to brush her hair behind her ear. But then his smirk faded a bit, and he stared at her lips for a moment before admitting, "I really did think that you left. I woke up and you were gone and I just..."

"Oh God, _no_ ," she shook her head, suddenly feeling terrible for having gotten up when she had. "I'm sorry. I'm just... you know me. I overthink things, so my first thought was brushing my teeth. It's stupid, I know."

"No, no, it's not," he assured her, giving her a small smile. "But I can overthink things too. Figured you must have woken up and regretted everything and..."

Aghast at the very suggestion of such a thought, Summer did the first thing that popped into her head that would convince him that nothing could be further from the truth. She slid her hands into his hair and kissed him, cutting off his words and pressing her lips to his in a heartfelt kiss that she hoped would wipe away any lingering doubts in his mind.

After, she pulled away a bit breathlessly and looked him in his now-mildly dazed eye as she told him, "I don't regret _anything_. Last night was... beyond words. It was the best night of my life. And I meant everything I said to you."

His eyes lit up with a quiet but potent joy that made her heart soar. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I _promise_."

"Good," he murmured, grip tightening somewhat on her hips, "because I meant it all too, and I'm nowhere near ready to let you leave this bed."

He proved his words by pulling her closer, her chest pressing to his and her hips grinding slightly down on him as he kissed her with a perfect, sweet passion. Then he made her giggle by rolling them over on the bed, making her land on the pillows with a slight bounce as he leaned over her with a smile on his face that made her heart melt.

"So," he said, right hand delicately and slowly undoing the buttons of his white shirt and exposing her body inch by inch, "I figure this might be a good time to ask... can I take you to dinner sometime?"

She giggled again, shivering a little as he undid the last button and then pushed aside both sides of the shirt, fully exposing her body to his eyes. "As long as it's somewhere nice."

He grinned, softly tracing the side of one ample breast and making her shiver _again_. "I think I can manage that. Just make sure you wear something you can ride my bike in."

She bit her lip, still a little terrified of the motorcycle but finding the idea of hopping back on it equally as exciting as it was scary. "As long as you drive slow."

He gave her breast a perfect, firm squeeze and grinned, "I'll drive as fast or slow as you want, sweetheart."

She would have giggled yet again if he hadn't have kissed her right then, swallowing up the faint sound and making her groan instead. He slid on top of her, between her legs that opened to welcome him, and there wasn't an inch of sheets covering them as they easily and fully lost themselves in each other.

It was only as he began slowly and sensually kissing his way down her body that Summer suddenly remembered that she never checked the text message that had woken her up in the first place. Heart pounding with anticipation as he trailed open-mouthed kisses down her belly, Summer somewhat breathlessly muttered, "I think... Aemilia texted me earlier. They're probably waiting for us downstairs."

Hand gripping her thigh and lips pressing hotly to the inner side of it, Bucky glanced up at her and murmured, "They can keep waiting." Then he swept his eyes over her body again, darkening a little as he took in his shirt that was still clinging to her arms and shoulders. "Keep my shirt on."

She would have answered, but then his mouth was on her and she couldn't form a single coherent word. Her thoughts melted away and the world did too, leaving her able to focus only on him and what he made her feel.

Aemilia was going to kill her later for ignoring her, but _damn_ if it wasn't completely and wholly worth it.

* * *

It took them a rather long time, but eventually Bucky and Summer managed to drag themselves out of bed and get ready for the day ahead. They took turns in the shower - jumping in together would have been counterproductive to the whole "getting going" thing - and when they were finally dressed, they managed to make it downstairs to where Loki and Aemilia had finished breakfast more than half an hour earlier.

The hotel restaurant was mostly empty save for the other couple, and as soon as Summer caught a glimpse of Aemilia's face at the table she and Loki were still seated at, Summer grinned and felt her face become hotter than the fires of Mount Doom.

This was going to be either the best or worst breakfast of her life.

She and Bucky took their seats without fanfare, both of them feigning nonchalance as they sat next to each other and Loki and Aemilia fixed their pointed, endlessly amused stares upon them.

"At last," Loki said with an obnoxious grin. "I thought you had both possibly died in your sleep."

"Nope," Summer smiled, picking up the menu in front of her. "Slept fine."

"Really?" Aemilia smiled back. "Because it certainly sounded like _something_ was happening in your room quite late. I think it was around 3:30. Quite the ruckus. Just what were you two up to?"

"Nothing," Bucky replied smoothly, much better at lying and side-stepping the truth than Summer was. "You must have heard somebody else in a different room."

"Really?" Loki raised an eyebrow. Then he turned to Aemilia and said, "How incredibly coincidental that we overheard another couple in the throes of passion with the exact same names as our friends. Isn't that something?"

"Oh yes," Aemilia agreed. "What are the odds that there would be _another_ Bucky and Summer moaning each other's names and slamming their bed into the wall behind our heads?"

"It's absolutely uncanny," Loki agreed.

Nearly ready to explode, Summer finally dropped her menu down on the table and all but yelped, "Okay, okay! You guys obviously heard everything, so... yeah."

"See, baby, I told you you were being too loud," Bucky winked at her, making Summer stare at him with sudden rage before he made it better by taking her hand under the table. She blushed a little and looked away while fighting a smile, pretending to go back to reading the menu while she was actually dying inside.

Aemilia smiled at them with pure joy. "I am so incredibly happy for you both. I have been waiting for this day for so long, I was starting to lose hope that it would ever happen."

"Truly, you are both such pathetic imbeciles when it comes to one another," Loki agreed. "If Aemilia and I hadn't pushed you together, we would have likely had to suffer through the melodramatic pining for at _least_ another decade."

Bucky furrowed his brows. "... Pathetic imbeciles?"

"I was trying to be nice," Loki replied.

Summer blinked, eyeing them both. "... How did you push us together?"

"Well, it was my idea to take Bucky as your fake date to the reunion," Aemilia reminded her.

"And Aemilia, this mischievous little creature, actually changed the reservations I made from three rooms to two," Loki added.

"It had to look like a genuine mistake on the part of the hotel," Aemilia shrugged. "I apologized to the poor woman at the desk after Loki's fit and gave her a good tip for what I made her endure, so all is well."

"And apart from that, I lobbied for you two to win King and Queen at the reunion," Loki said. "Suffice it to say that we have been doing our very best to push the two of you together from the outset of this little trip."

"... But why?" Summer asked, slightly bewildered.

"Because it has been exhausting to watch you two dance around each other for so long," Aemilia replied. "Honestly, I couldn't handle another minute of it. You're lucky we chose this route instead of our original plan."

"What was the original plan?" Bucky asked.

"Putting you two in an elevator and trapping you in there until you finally defiled one another," Loki replied.

"... Thanks for not doing that. I would have been too busy panicking to... y'know," Summer said, finding that idea to be nothing short of horrific.

"Well see, he would have found ways to relax you," Aemilia explained.

Bucky nodded, raising an eyebrow. "Yes I would have. That would have worked."

"But this was better," Aemilia added. "And look at you two. You both look so happy."

They both smiled like idiots in response, unable to hide how true Aemilia's statement truly was. Loki then groaned and said, "Oh dear. The tooth-rotting sweetness and lovey-dovey displays of affection on the horizon may be even worse than all the obnoxious moping."

"You'll get used to it," Bucky replied, draping his arm on Summer's seat behind her shoulders. "Besides, you guys were the loud ones last night."

"I cannot help that I am exceptionally skilled at pleasing my woman to the point of screaming," Loki shrugged. "I have no shame in this."

"Neither do I," Bucky grinned, starting to play idly with Summer's hair.

"Yes, but... Summer was moaning more than screaming. Aemilia, however -"

"Loki," Aemilia sighed, turning to her fiancé, "if you turn this into a competition, I will slap you."

Loki grinned and chuckled. "And how, exactly, is that supposed to _discourage_ me?"

Aemilia rolled her eyes and turned back to Summer. "These men are ridiculous."

Summer giggled, glancing at Bucky and then replying, "Yeah... but that's okay. They'd be boring if they weren't."

"True, I suppose," Aemilia mused, smiling as Bucky leaned forward and chastely kissed Summer on the lips.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Dear God, I was right. This _is_ worse. I feel a new cavity forming as we speak."

Bucky picked up a packet of artificial sweetener on the table and tossed it at Loki's face in response. "Then switch to this crap. Supposed to be better for your teeth."

"You are so very funny, I am in stitches," Loki deadpanned. "Truly. My sides utterly ache with laughter."

Summer watched the men bicker for a moment and then turned back to Aemilia. "And yet, they are still the real married couple out of all of us."

Aemilia gave an exaggerated shrug. "There's no stopping it. They will be in their eighties and still bickering over nothing."

"And competing over _everything_ ," Summer added. "But it could be worse."

"Especially if they compete over who can please their women better," Aemilia grinned. "Honestly, we only profit from their competitions."

"True," Summer giggled, still hardly able to believe that she was sitting there with Bucky's arm around her and that they were finally truly _together_. She was so happy she felt like she could burst, and that happiness only grew every time Aemilia looked at them with affection and let her own excitement show.

Everything was finally as it should be, it seemed. Somehow, one of the most dreaded events of her life had led to all of _this_ , and she had her friends to thank for that as much as fate itself.

After their very late breakfast, the couples returned to their rooms and got packed up and ready to leave. They just barely made it out by their check-out time, meeting in the parking lot as they piled all their bags in the back of Loki's car.

"So," Bucky asked Summer as Loki closed the trunk, "you wanna ride back with me?"

"Of course she does," Aemilia answered for Summer, slipping a pair of sunglasses on her face and shooting the new couple a grin. "In fact, she's not allowed in our car. She has no choice but to ride with you."

Summer's eyes widened, turning to stare at Bucky's motorcycle like it might jump out and bite her. "But... a couple hours... on that thing? On the _highway_?!"

"Sounds like a good bonding experience to me, darling," Loki said, strolling to the driver's seat of his car and opening the door. "Have fun and enjoy having him between your thighs."

Summer closed her eyes and groaned under her breath.

"Oh, she will," Aemilia grinned, hopping into the passenger seat. "See you two back in the city!"

Then, without further fanfare, Loki and Aemilia drove off, leaving the other couple standing alone in the parking lot. Summer sighed and then turned around, finding Bucky holding out a helmet for her. When Summer simply looked at it like she wanted to vomit, Bucky smiled and put it on her head for her, gently tugging it into place and then kissing the tip of her nose once it was on. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's take another ride."

She watched in defeat as he put on his own helmet and straddled the bike, wearing his leather jacket again and looking sinfully perfect, as usual. Deciding to just get it over with, Summer quickly followed suit, getting on the back of his bike for only the second time in her life. This time, she didn't hesitate to press against him and wrap her arms around him, and _damn_ could she get used to touching him like that all the time.

"Ready to go home?" he asked her over his shoulder, grinning all the while.

"I guess so," she sighed, tightening her grip on him. "Just go slow and... please try to avoid semis on the highway, and... don't speed, and -"

"Summer," he chuckled, "I love you, remember? You're safe with me, I promise. You trust me?"

She smiled softly, those three little words - _I love you_ \- doing far more to settle her nerves than the strongest drug in the world ever could have. "Yeah. Yeah, I trust you. And I love you too."

He smiled back and turned on the engine. "Then let's get home. I've got a first date tonight, and I don't wanna be late and make the wrong impression."

She laughed, holding on to him tight as the bike began to move. Though she felt an initial thrill of terror once they got on the road and, a few moments later, merged on to the highway, it soon fell away and was replaced by the same warm, happy feeling that she had woken up with that morning. Nothing could take that feeling away, and when she closed her eyes and laid her head down on the back of his shoulder, she felt no fear or apprehension but simply the real and distinct feeling of _freedom_.

Her heart soaring and mind high on the man who was to blame for it all, they journeyed back home to the city together and didn't look back. The future awaited just ahead, a future that Summer couldn't wait to dive into, and all it had taken was a trip back into her less than pleasant past to push the two of them into it.

Her luck was _finally_ starting to change in her favor. Her fourteen year old self never would have believed that this could have been her future, but _here she was_. And there was nowhere in the world that she would have rather been.


	6. Epilogue

**A/N at the end today! :D**

 _One year later_

Late one otherwise ordinary afternoon, Summer walked into Bucky's somewhat new office downtown and tried to calm the nerves fluttering within her. He hadn't been in private practice for very long, only about six months, but it was going rather well for him and his office in midtown Manhattan was thriving. He wasn't aware that Summer was dropping in for a visit, and that was the way that she wanted it.

He had a sweet little old receptionist named Betty who looked up the minute Summer arrived and smiled at her excitedly. "Summer! I didn't know you were dropping today. How are you?"

"I'm pretty good," Summer smiled back, slipping her hands inside the pockets of the leather jacket that she had bought just the day before. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm keeping busy, same as always," Betty smiled back. "Do you want me to ring your fiancé and tell him you're here?"

"No," Summer smiled, biting her lip and feeling her nerves burst forth all over again. Having rehearsed this conversation in her head countless times already, she said, "I'm actually his last appointment today."

Betty looked at Summer in mild confusion before checking the appointment sheet laying before her. "His last appointment today is a Ms. Allison Smith."

"Yeah," Summer smiled a bit nervously. "That's kinda... me. I'm trying to kinda... surprise him, and... if you could just like... make sure his door stays locked..."

Betty suddenly understood. " _Oh_! Oh. Absolutely! Not a problem. Why didn't you just say so in the first place? Tell you what, I'll be out of here as soon as I can, too."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Summer smiled, rather fond of the woman that Bucky employed full time. She was a grandmother of three and her deceased husband had been a Navy Seal, and Summer held a lot of admiration for her quiet inner strength and resilience.

"No, no, don't worry about it. Go on in and have a seat, sweetie. He stepped out to grab some coffee a little while ago, but he should be back any minute."

"Okay," Summer smiled. "Oh! And don't tell him I'm the appointment."

Betty looked at her like she was crazy. "Of course not! I know exactly what you're up to, hon, and I'm not gonna spoil your fun."

Summer blushed a little and gave Betty a grateful smile. "Thank you so much."

The older woman nodded and then made a _shoo_ gesture with her hand. "Go on, hurry up before he gets back!"

With a giggle under her breath, Summer did as she said and hurried inside Bucky's office. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath, briefly biting her lip and again trying to settle the nerves that were fluttering wildly inside of her. To keep herself busy while she waited for Bucky, she took a walk around the office and ended up behind his desk, smiling at what he had strewn on top of it.

He wasn't the neatest guy she'd ever known, and that showed in the somewhat tall pile of papers on the desk and a few packs of random snacks he had stashed next to a container holding pens and a few pencils. He had a closed laptop on the desk as well, and best of all, a cute framed photo of himself and Summer from the high school reunion that had pushed their relationship to the next level.

After staring at the photo with a little smile on her face, Summer decided to go ahead and take her seat in front of the desk. She sat down and crossed her legs, fidgeting with her fingers in her lap until the vibrant sparkle of the diamond on her left ring finger caught her attention and made her start smiling all over again.

Bucky had proposed just a month earlier, out of the blue during a sweet and lazy morning they'd spent in bed together. He then confessed that he'd had the ring for three months already and had just been waiting for the right moment to pop the question. Now the ring was sitting on her finger, a gorgeous and impressive reminder of how far they had come and how much further they would continue to go together.

She was happier than she had ever been before in her life. Her career was thriving and so was his, and the week prior they had gone shopping for apartments together. There was one available in the same building that Loki and Aemilia resided in, and if their application was approved, they would be moving in together soon and Summer would get to live just one floor down from her best friend.

She was incredibly excited, and excitement was something that she didn't take for granted. Bucky had been so good to her and had helped her self-confidence grow by leaps and bounds, and she wanted to repay him for that in a way that he would never forget. Today was a part of her plan to do just that, along with keeping things between them exciting and interesting.

He had once casually mentioned an interest in roleplaying, back when they had been just friends and he liked to say things to get her flustered and blushing. He was rather adventurous in ways that Summer's other boyfriends had never been, and while ideas like these had been rattling around in her brain since almost day one, she only just now had worked up the nerve to finally _try_ one of them.

The sound of the office door opening jolted Summer from her thoughts. She suddenly sat up straighter, gulping down a lump of anxiety in her throat, and she turned in her seat to look towards the door and the unsuspecting psychologist walking through it.

He was wearing a dark gray suit and a white button down shirt underneath, with two buttons undone and no tie in sight. His hair - still gloriously long, maybe even an inch or so longer than before - was tied back in a somewhat loose bun, and his eyes were glued on a chart in his hands as he closed the door behind him.

"Miss... Allison Smith," he said, finally raising his eyes and smiling only to blink in surprise upon seeing his fiancée sitting there instead of a new patient. "Sum-"

"Nice to meet you, Doctor," she smiled, quickly standing up and extending her hand to his. When Bucky simply stared at her in confusion, she winked at him as if to say _come on, just go with it_. "Thank you for seeing me."

He slowly shook her hand, his bewildered gaze flickering down over her somewhat out of the ordinary attire. In addition to her new body-hugging leather jacket, she wore deep red high heels and a short equally deep red skirt that showed off her dark stocking-covered legs. Then, because she had decided to be a cheeky little thing, she wore a skin-tight black Bon Jovi concert t-shirt that she had recently bought on eBay specifically for this purpose.

It was definitely not the typical sort of thing one wore to see their therapist, but this was also far from the typical therapy appointment. And as soon as Bucky saw the t-shirt, it all clicked and he somehow knew exactly what Summer was getting at.

He cleared his throat and smiled. "No problem, Miss Smith. Go on and have a seat."

She smiled and nodded, biting her lip from grinning _too_ stupidly when she turned away to sit back down. Bucky ran his eyes over the back of her, taking in the curves that her outfit displayed before forcing himself to go and make his way to his own seat, also trying not to smile like an idiot and possibly burst out laughing.

This was gonna be one hell of an "appointment", that much was obvious.

Forcing her smile into something a little less obvious and over the top, Summer sat back down and crossed her legs again as Bucky sat behind his desk, setting down the patient chart in front of him and making eye contact with Summer again as he grabbed a pen and popped off the cap. "So, Miss Smith, what brings you here today?"

Mentally going over her well-rehearsed story in her head, Summer tried not to get too distracted by how incredibly hot she found Bucky to be when he was in "doctor mode" and replied, "Well, I've been having a hard time sleeping lately, and instead of going to a regular doctor and just getting a prescription, I figured it would better to try this instead."

"All right. So insomnia," he said, scribbling a note down on the patient history section of her paperwork. "How long has this been going on?"

He looked up at her as he waited for an answer, and Summer almost burst into a sudden fit of giggles as it suddenly sank in that they were really doing this. But she controlled herself. "I think about six months or so. I just can't turn off my brain and relax, you know? I've dealt with anxiety most of my life, but this is the first time I've ever really had a problem sleeping."

"Are there any new sources of stress in your life? New job, money problems, moving, family issues... a recent break up?" Bucky asked, _really_ liking the look that she was pulling off that day. He'd never seen that leather jacket before, but he hoped to see more of it. And he knew _exactly_ why she'd worn that particular t-shirt. Coupled with the hose on her legs and the sky-high heels... _damn_ it was all incredibly distracting.

"Actually, I'm recently engaged," she smiled, holding up her left hand for emphasis.

"Oh," he smiled, amused and wanting to see just where she was going with all of this. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," she smiled back, looking down at the ring and admiring it for a moment. "Everything's going really great, honestly. I've got a great job, nice apartment, and my fiancé's great. I'm really happy. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Well, problems winding down and getting full night of sleep doesn't mean anything's _wrong_ with you," he told her. "Stress and anxiety have a lot of ways of manifesting. If you're juggling everything constantly during the day and always going and going, once the day's over and you've got a chance to breathe... that can be the perfect time for your anxiety to kind of creep back into your life and mess with you a little bit."

"What can I do about that?" Summer asked, furrowing her brows and making her best worried expression. "I don't want to take drugs or anything like that."

"There's a lot that you can try before I would suggest a prescription," Bucky replied, twirling his pen between his fingers, something she found distracting for several reasons. "There's meditation, music, maybe working on whatever hobby you enjoy for awhile before you go to bed." He paused. "Exercise can work great, too."

"Really? What kind of exercise?" Summer asked, forcing down another smile. She liked where this was going. She could work with this.

He leaned forward on the desk on his elbows, pretending to consider the question as he touched a hand to his mouth when in reality he was hiding a little smile that he quickly managed to lose. "Well, it can be as simple as doing some yoga in your own apartment before bed to a late night jog around the neighborhood. Getting your body moving can clear your head in ways few other things can."

Pretending to consider those options, Summer sighed, "Well, I'm not much for yoga, honestly... and even though I live in a good neighborhood, I don't know that I'd feel safe jogging at night in New York City."

"That's fair. You could ask your fiancé to run with you, if that would help," Bucky replied.

She smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "I don't think he'd be up for that. See, he's out like a light every night before I can even think about sleeping. There's no way he'd stay up and lose sleep to go jog with me."

"Hm," Bucky said, highly disapproving of the actions of this fake, nonexistent man. "Well, then that rules out my _next_ suggestion on how he could help wear you out at night."

She blushed, the reaction coming naturally. " _Oh_. Yeah, that... that isn't much of an option, either. I love him, but... he's a little boring, you know?"

Bucky nodded, licking his lips and glancing down at the chart on his desk. "Well... as disappointing as that is, you don't necessarily need him to give _yourself_ a good workout."

Then his eyes met hers again, and Summer knew that was the point where they officially crossed the line and began to flirt with what they were _really_ there to do. "Oh," she giggled, her cheeks growing even hotter. "Well, um... I've actually... tried that before, but... it actually ends up making me want to stay up instead of go to sleep."

He furrowed his brows. "Really? How?"

Even though this was all pretend and she was only playing a part, she still found it difficult to get her answer out. "... I just... don't want to stop, so..."

"... Ah," he nodded, shifting in his seat and doing his very best to maintain his tenuous professional facade. "Well, that does present quite the dilemma, doesn't it, Miss Smith?"

Before she could answer, he was up and strolling across his office to a water cooler that sat in the corner. He poured them both small cups of water and then returned, handing one cup to her and then leaning on his desk in front of her.

Nonchalantly taking a sip as she simply held her cup and stared up at him, Bucky said, "What I've gotten from our conversation so far is that maybe... in some respects... your life isn't quite as perfect as you'd like to think it is. On paper it all sounds flawless, but if your stress is keeping you up at night and you feel like you can't rely on your partner to help you with ways to combat your insomnia... then maybe things aren't as rosy as they seem."

"Oh," she said, feigning sadness. "I hadn't thought of it that way. What should I do?"

"Well, the best way to reduce stress is to eliminate the causes of it," he replied, setting his cup aside on his desk. Palms flat on the desk as he continued to lean against it, he added, "I would start by taking stock of everything. Start at the beginning and work your way through everything. Get rid of everything you can that's toxic or triggers your anxiety."

Summer nodded, looking down at the clear, cool water in the little styrofoam cup in her hands. "Yeah... I'll work on that. I really do love my fiancé, though."

"I don't doubt it," he replied, making no effort to hide the way that he was ogling her high heels and how incredible they made her legs look. "But problems that exist now will only get worse during marriage. It's not a magic fix. Kinda the opposite, actually," he added with a chuckle.

She let out a deep breath and bit her lip. "Yeah... you're right. Okay, so... while I'm... taking stock of everything... what can I do to sleep better? I don't know if I'll be able to think clearly if I'm only getting four hours of sleep a night."

He chewed on his lower lip, mirroring her own nervous habit, and as he considered his reply, he looked her up and down in a way that made her skin tingle underneath her clothes. Then he straightened up, and for a moment she thought that he was going to step closer and _maybe_ make a move, but then he turned and headed back behind his desk.

He was gonna make her work for this, apparently. Or maybe he was enjoying it too much to get to the good part so fast.

"I could suggest reading books or drinking chamomile tea, or... maybe winding down with a bath and a glass of wine, but I'm willing to bet you've tried all that," he said, sinking back into his chair.

She nodded. "I have."

"You strike me as... restless," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Maybe even a little stifled. I think you know exactly what it is you want and what will help you."

"... I do?" She asked innocently. "But if I already know, why would I come here?"

"For confirmation," he replied, eyes sweeping over her again in a way that made her shiver. "Validation that what you need is normal and nothing to be ashamed of."

She smiled and her fingers fidgeted in her lap. "I... I'm not sure I really follow."

He grinned and leaned back in his seat, eyes turning slightly playful. "Come on, Miss Smith. We both know why you're here."

 _Well then_. Blushing harder and feeling incredibly shy all of a sudden as if the character she'd made up was bleeding over a little bit, Summer slowly leaned forward and stood up out of her chair. Keeping her eyes downcast to the floor, she slowly walked around Bucky's desk and made her way there as Bucky stared at her intently, watching every step she took.

Once she was in front of him, Summer hopped up on his desk and finally met his gaze. She could see the heat in his eyes, the way that he was trying his best to appear casual and unaffected, but his body language said otherwise.

"You're the doctor," she said, crossing one leg over the other and supporting herself on her palms. "Tell me what I need."

Head tilting slightly to the side in response to that little challenge, Bucky leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees and looking up at her through his lashes. "You said you can't turn off your brain and relax. You're always going and going... always calling the shots, right? Always thinking... always in control."

She nodded. It wasn't far from the truth.

"What you need," he said, voice barely more than a purr, "is to lose control. Have it taken from you so you _can't_ think and _can't_ keep yourself up at night."

Her heartbeat fluttering wildly at those words, Summer replied quietly, "But I don't have anyone to do that for me. I _want_ it, but... I don't have anyone to show me _how_ to let go."

She slipped off the desk, instinct and desire guiding her as she took a step forward so that she was right in front of him. Then she dropped down to her knees, taking him by surprise and making his jaw drop a little. She then placed her hands on his knees and gave him her sweetest pleading look as she asked, "Will _you_ show me?"

He didn't answer her. Instead he continued to stare at her like it was taking all of his self control not to simply take her right there, that gaze of his only growing more intense as she pushed his knees apart and slowly rose up between them. Carefully, she climbed on his lap, one knee on either side of his legs, and all the while their eyes remained locked. She placed her hands on his shoulders and murmured, "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Keeping his hands at his sides, his eyes ran over her lips and the swell of her breasts beneath her t-shirt before he licked his lips and shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" she asked, one palm sliding up his neck and her fingers slipping into his hair. "I don't see a ring on your finger."

"I see one on yours," he pointed out with a small, amused grin.

"But he can't give me what you can," she replied, dragging herself across his lap for emphasis. "Please, Doctor. Just once?"

She leaned in close, close enough for her nose to brush his and their lips to _almost_ touch. He closed his eyes and breathed her in, and she reached down to take his hands and place them on her hips. His fingers immediately tightened in a firm grip but he continued to protest. "I could lose my license."

"Only if I tell," she pointed out. "And I won't. I'm good at keeping secrets."

Then she kissed the corner of his mouth and trailed soft, teasing kisses across his jaw and down his neck, every touch designed to make him want more. His grip on her grew tighter, his hands bunching up her skirt and inching it up her thighs. As she kissed and nipped at the most sensitive part of his neck, over his pulse point, his hands ran up her thighs and felt the lacy trim of her stockings and the garter clips attached to each one. He traced the little clips with two fingertips, and when she rocked herself into his lap at the same moment that her tongue flicked over his neck, he groaned and his hands slid up higher and found bare skin where he had expected to find panties.

" _Fuck_ ," he groaned at the discovery, opening his eyes and staring up almost helplessly at Summer after she raised her head and bit her lip to hide a grin. She'd known _that_ would get a rise out of him. Literally.

"Please," she begged again, dropping her forehead against his and running her hand down his chest. She undid one button and continued grinding down on his growing hardness as she pled, " _Please_ , touch me."

Giving in - just a little - Bucky let his right hand slip between her legs and drift upwards until he let out a breathless chuckle against her lips. "How can you possibly be _this_ wet when I haven't even touched you?"

"That's how bad I want you," she replied quietly, closing her eyes at the faint, too-soft brush of his fingers. She chased after his touch, needing it so very badly, but he pulled both of his hands away and she could have almost wept with frustration. "Doctor..."

"Don't whine, baby," he murmured, taking each lapel of her jacket in his hands. "I'm gonna take care of you."

Then he all but ripped the jacket down her shoulders, pulling until it was mostly off her arms but tangled around her wrists behind her back. That was exactly how he wanted her. He twisted the jacket so that her wrists pulled tightly together, holding it and using it as a restraint as his other hand snuck back between her legs.

This was even better than what she had fantasized about. Straddling his lap with her hands tied behind her back and his warm fingers softly rubbing just how she liked it, she let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes as he kissed up the side of her neck. "Is this what you wanted?"

"Yes," she mewled, trembling under his touch and shivering when he bit just under her jaw.

"You like being tied up? You like being at my mercy?" he asked, fingers moving steadily quicker, building her up not too slowly and not too fast either. It was absolutely perfect.

" _God_ , yes," she groaned, dropping her head down and trying to catch his lips with hers. But he evaded her, grinning at the way that she made a noise of displeasure and tried to surge after him, only to be thwarted by him yanking on her jacket and pulling her back.

"Relax," he murmured. "You wanted me to take control, yeah? That's what I'm doing. Just give in to me. Let me give you what you need."

She nodded, cheeks on fire and body sweating and straining under the clothes she wished she wasn't still wearing. Then his mouth was at her ear, his voice sinfully low as he uttered another string of words that had her nearly faint with need.

"I'll make a deal with you. Show me how bad you need me. Ride my hand til you come, and _then_ I'll let you have my cock."

She almost tipped over the edge right then, just from his words alone. He wasn't always so vulgar like this, but being under the guise of roleplaying seemed to have brought them both to the next level and it was worth it just for that alone. Following his orders, Summer did just as he said, though it was hard without having her hands or her arms for balance. She had to rely on him alone and use the rest of her body to achieve her goal, and though her thighs strained and her legs ached from the effort, she rode the hell out of his hand until she was trembling and he could feel her tightening around his fingers. The time it took to get her there was embarrassingly short.

"There you go, baby," he cooed in her ear, dragging his lips underneath it and along her jaw, her neck, anywhere he pleased. " _God_ , you're so fucking tight. Come on, come for me. Don't hold back, come for me, baby..."

And she did, with a sudden cry that she couldn't contain. It filled up the whole room and tapered off only after she started to come back down, riding the waves in sheer bliss until it was over and she could hardly breathe. She fell against his chest, her face buried in his shoulder, and as she tried to catch her breath, Bucky unraveled her jacket from her wrists and let it fall to the floor. Then he held her close as she brought her hands to his chest, her arms half-numb and happy to be free and unrestrained again.

He kissed her temple tenderly, and she wondered for a moment if the spell was broken and now they were their usual selves again. She got her answer when he then gave her thigh a light tap and said, "Stand up and strip for me." It wasn't over yet.

Whatever satisfaction she had felt before flew out the window, her desire reignited thanks to just those words alone. She drew back and found his eyes heavy and full of lust as he regarded her, so she wasted no time in easing off of his lap and standing up in front of him. She had to bite her lip when she glanced down at his lap and saw the _effect_ that she'd had on him so far.

First she took off her shirt, tossing it down on top of her leather jacket on the floor. Then she slid her skirt down her legs, and after stepping out of them, her hands went to her garter belt next until he reached out and stopped her with a hand on her outer thigh. "Keep that on. And the stockings and the heels."

She smiled and did as he said, reaching behind her back to unhook her bra instead. She watched then as his hand snuck down to rub at himself through his clothes, and the sight affected her more than she thought it would. She pulled her bra off of her shoulders and then carelessly dropped it to the floor, the sight of her bare breasts making his own hand move a little harder, and it didn't escape her notice.

"Now get on your knees," he said, hand moving up to start undoing his belt. "Convince me that you can take what I'm gonna give you."

She shot down to the floor so fast it almost made her dizzy. He spread his legs wide for her, pants undone by the time she had settled on her knees and found him hard and ready for her. She looked up at him as she took him in her hand, the flush on his cheeks and the anticipation in his eyes making her own excitement spike.

"Don't tease me," he told her, more of a warning than a command.

"Yes, Doctor," she replied, unable to help the little smile that her own words placed on her face. And then, true to her word, she didn't tease him. Instead, she focused all of her attention and energy on taking him apart, and after a year spent getting to know exactly what he liked and how he liked it, she knew just how to do it.

She took him in slowly, her tongue tracing up and down and around him in firm strokes that matched the movements of her hand. The sounds of his quiet sighs and occasional light groan spurred her on, and the first time she took him all the way to the back of her throat was the first time that he let out a real, deep moan. After that, his fingers curled tightly into her hair and she whined around him when he tugged her up and down a few times, letting him know that she was perfectly fine with him using her however he wished.

"You like this, don't you," he murmured breathlessly, watching himself disappear in her mouth over and over again. " _Look_ at you. Prettiest face I've ever fucked."

He was _killing_ her. She ached to be touched but she was focused fully on him and his pleasure, and on following his lead as he guided her and controlled her movements. She really _did_ love it, and that was why she whimpered with disappointment when just as she felt him tensing and nearing his end, he pulled her off of him right at the last minute.

"As much I'd love to watch you swallow me down," he growled, pulling her up to her feet, "I'm not finished with you yet."

Then he was on his feet in front of her, and he finally, _finally_ crashed his lips against hers as she nearly frantically pushed his suit jacket off of his shoulders. He let it fall on the floor and picked her up and set her on the desk as they kissed like mad, blindly reaching out and knocking over enough of his desk's contents to make enough room to lay her down.

He pushed her down with a gentle but firm hand between her breasts, breaking their kiss as he hovered over her and admired the way that she looked like that, laid out almost completely bare before him. She gasped quietly when reached down and tore the garter belt from her hips, tossing it on top of her other discarded clothes before he lowered himself down and kissed the generous swell of her breast.

Her hands worked more of his shirt buttons undone as he poured his attention on her breasts, taking her from needy to utterly desperate in mere seconds. They were two of his favorite parts of her, and he knew how to kiss and lick and play in ways that would make her simply _gush_. By the time that he had peeked up at her and began to drag his lips down her body, she had pulled half of his hair out of his bun and had also opened his shirt, making him look almost equally disheveled as her.

She opened her legs wide for him when his lips dragged over one of her hipbones, far too gone to be bashful at that point, and he slung her leg over his shoulder before looking up at her and grinning at her in a way that was absolutely _filthy_. "Ready, baby?"

"Yes, Doctor," she smiled back, watching his grin widen. Then, his eyes still locked with hers, he leaned in closer and simply _inhaled_ , and something about it made her nearly lose her mind without even being touched.

Closing his eyes, Bucky then gave her one long, firm, perfect lick, stopping only to groan a low _so fucking good_ against her sensitive flesh before setting to her with everything he had. She nearly twisted off the desk in response, her movements beyond her control and her body a wreck that had a mind of its own. He was so good at this, better than she could even fathom, and she was so worked up and on fire that his touch was simply gasoline on top of it.

She never would have believed before that a man existed who loved doing this as much as he did, but he utterly _adored_ the act and could never get enough of it. Sometimes he would take it slow and almost make an entire night of it, and sometimes he would simply keep going and going until she begged him to stop. _Other_ times, he devoured her like she was the last meal he'd ever have, and this was one of those times.

It wasn't just the tight, bruising grip of his hand on her thigh or the unrelenting assault of his mouth, but it was also the _sounds_ that he made that made her lose her mind. He panted and gasped for air against her flesh, groaned hungrily as feasted on her, and moaned when she pulled on his hair hard enough to hurt _just_ right. It was all too much and she couldn't handle it, tumbling into oblivion almost the very moment that he slid two fingers within her and expertly curled them to make her see stars. She knocked over his container of pens and her own patient chart in her haze, moaning it all out much louder than she could have ever realized.

Once she was lying limp and breathless on the desk, feeling boneless and nearly dead in the best of ways, Bucky straightened up with a ravenous look in his eyes. He ran his tongue over his lips and wiped away what remained of her, and then giving her hardly any time to recover, gripped her hips and yanked her down on the edge of the desk. Her eyes flew open and she squeaked in surprise, looking up to find him looming over her with his hair completely free and loose on his shoulders, shirt open and pants barely hanging on to his hips and concealing nothing, but most striking of all was the almost unbearable heat in his eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, he flipped her over on her stomach, bending her over on the desk and sending her hands scrambling for something to hold on to. Excited shivers raced down her spine when she felt his chest pressed to her back and his lips on her ear as he murmured, "This is what you _really_ wanted, isn't it? To be held down and fucked so hard you can't even think."

An incoherent moan was her answer, but all that earned her was a sharp slap to her ass that took her breath away and made her entire body convulse with pleasure.

"Answer me when I ask you a question, _Miss Smith_ ," he demanded, his tone turning almost mocking at the end and yet it was still the hottest thing she'd ever heard.

"Yes sir," she managed, accidentally slipping back into her usual name for him. He spanked her again, harder, and she moaned shamelessly that time.

"Come on, baby, tell me what I wanna hear," he said, biting gently on the back of her shoulder.

"Yes, Doctor," she groaned, only to gasp and nearly bite a hole in her lip when two more slaps came her way.

"If you want me to fuck you into this desk, you're gonna have to do better than that," he taunted, teasingly brushing against her without giving her what she needed.

"Bucky," she attempted, only to earn another slap. "James," she tried again, and that got her both a frustrated growl, a bite on the back of her neck, and the hardest slap yet. It was both maddening and utterly exquisite.

Then his mouth was back at her ear and his voice was the roughest it had been all night. " _You know what I want to hear._ "

That was when she understood. She groaned and turned her now-bright red face against the desk, knowing there was no way out of this now regardless of how embarrassed she suddenly was.

"Say it, baby," he coaxed, his hand slipping between her legs to tease her and feel how wet his treatment of her had made her.

She keened at the touch, but she wanted so much more, like she was painfully empty and needed him to fill her as only he could. But he wanted something first, something that had slipped out of her mouth completely accidentally months earlier and had since become a bit of a _thing_ with them. She had never meant for it to happen and didn't even know where it had come from, but the minute it had left her mouth... there was no turning back, just as there was no turning back now.

Another hard spank brought her focus back to the present. " _God_ , I wanna fuck you so bad," he groaned, dragging his lips up her shoulder blade. "C'mon, baby. Say it and I'll fuck you til you scream, I promise."

She whimpered in a weak, vain protest that she knew wouldn't do a thing. What she didn't expect was him grabbing her wrists and holding them against the small of her back, making her completely immobile and powerless underneath him before he hissed in her ear one last time, " _Say it._ "

"Daddy," she finally gasped out, desperation and lust and _need_ getting the better of her.

She _felt_ his grin against her skin. "There it is," he said, his tone dark but full of delight. "Good girl. One more time."

" _Please, Daddy_ ," she groaned almost brokenly before being rewarded by her hands being released and his hips _finally_ aligning with hers.

"I've got you, baby," he assured her, laving kisses down her neck before drawing away. She missed the warmth of his body over hers but then she felt him, smooth and hot and hard, pressing into her slowly and finally filling the ache in her body. "Fuck, so tight," he groaned, sliding his hand up her spine to the back of her neck. Then he gave her one last warning. "Hold on to the desk, sweetheart."

She grasped the sides of the thing just before he pulled out almost entirely only to slam back in and make her yelp, setting a bruising and almost brutal pace that she couldn't have possibly loved anymore than she did. It was exactly what she had wanted and needed, hard and fast and unforgiving, and his grip on the back of her neck kept her pushed down and powerless. He took all the control from her, just like he had promised he would, and she felt like she could lay under him like that forever and be the most content creature to have ever graced the earth.

Soon he came back down to her, bending over her and whispering filthy things into her ear, things that made her blush hard and jolt with pleasure, and when she could hold back no longer and felt her release bubbling up and spilling over, she came with a silent scream that Bucky recognized as the true sign of how far gone she was. She was only silent when she completely out of her mind and barely still in touch with reality, and those were the moments he prided himself on the most.

After that, he carefully withdrew from her and helped her up to her feet, her back still to his chest. She stood on shaky legs and leaned on him as he walked them backwards to his chair, where he sat first before pulling her down on his lap. She straddled his thighs again, this time facing away from him, and with her hands braced on the arms of the chair and his hands guiding her hips, she slid down on his length and made them both groan softly.

This time it was slower, more sensual, but no less intense. She laid her head back on his shoulder and rolled her hips up and down, back and forth, and he kissed her neck and left marks there for the next day as his hands groped her breasts and roamed all over her. Though she controlled the pace like this, he matched her every thrust and hit her in places that made her head spin.

With one hand playing exquisitely with her breast and the other having slid down between her legs to take her into sensory overload, Summer moaned and let her head roll until her lips were just an inch or two away from his. Somehow his kiss still took her by surprise, sloppy with passion and sweet with sheer affection, and it drove her to grip the chair's arms more tightly and take him deeper and faster. She wanted to feel him fall apart and relish the sense of power that came with knowing she was the one to make him like this, the only one in the world who got to feel him and hear him and _see_ him lose his mind.

"You're so fucking amazing," he murmured breathlessly against her lips, brows furrowed as he grew closer with each swirl of her hips. "Feels so good. Love it when you ride me like this."

And that was when she knew that their little game had faded away and all that remained was them, the real Bucky and Summer, and the love between them that made the sex as phenomenal as it was. She smiled and covered his hands with hers. "Keep talking." His dirty talk was one of her favorite things in the whole world, and he was always happy to oblige.

"I love you," he groaned next, fingers rubbing her faster and thrusts growing a little less precise. "Love you so much. Wish I had a mirror in here so I could watch you fuck me in this chair."

She groaned and shuddered a little, feeling herself nearing the edge one more time. Her legs on fire from the strain and her knuckles turning white from her grip on the chair arms, she dropped her head back on his shoulder and started riding him as hard and fast she could.

"Yeah, baby, _fuck_ , keep doing that," he gasped, lips and teeth and tongue wreaking havoc on her neck. "Ride it harder, come on. Fuck yourself on me. Use me. Use my cock."

His words giving her the burst of strength she needed, she did exactly as he said and took him with just enough extra force to tip them both over the edge. As they climbed their way up, she moaned and started to shake and he growled and moved his fingers ever faster, matching the frantic rhythm and giving her just what she needed to let go.

When he could feel her tensing and tightening, ready to burst, he hissed into her ear, "Who do you come for, baby?"

" _You, Daddy_ ," she replied in a whimper, far too gone to be embarrassed now. All she felt was heat and passion and the telltale tightening in her belly that had her gasping with anticipation, and the way that Bucky moaned in response to her words made them all the more worth it.

"That's right, sweetheart. Now come for me, Summer," he growled, losing his battle with his self-control and feeling himself start to spill within her. " _Oh fuck, baby, I'm -"_

She followed him off the edge, babbling and wailing nonsense that flew out of her mouth without her permission as they both lost their damn minds. Bucky nearly blacked out from how hard he came, his vision blurring as his teeth sunk into her shoulder and the pleasure wracked through his bones, and Summer simply laid back against him and let it take her apart. It was perfect and incredibly sweet, and she wasn't sure that she had ever been so fully and amazingly satisfied than she was in those perfect, quiet moments that followed.

Both of them utterly wrecked and breathing hard, slumped in the chair together with Summer draped over Bucky and his arms still wrapped around her, it felt like ages before either one of them could remember how to talk. But speech returned to Bucky first, who let out a deep groan against her shoulder and said, "That was fucking _hot_."

Summer smiled and giggled lightly, her eyes still closed. "I think I definitely wouldn't have any issues sleeping now, that's for sure."

Unwinding his arms from her and smoothing his hands up and down her thighs, over her bare skin and the tops of her stockings, he grinned. "Well, I do what I can for my patients."

"You'd better not," she replied cheekily, turning her head and catching his lips in a kiss they both smiled into. They kissed lazily for a moment or two, just soaking up those languid few moments following their little adventure, until Summer shifted and carefully eased off of him. Then she turned in his arms and smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, asking, "So... you liked my surprise?"

He chuckled. "... If you couldn't tell how much I liked it, then I definitely did something wrong."

She grinned. "You didn't. I was just... _super_ nervous. Like I went back and forth every day this last week, chickening out and working my nerve up over and over again before I finally just bit the bullet and made the appointment."

"I'm glad you did," he grinned back, hand running comfortingly up and down her back. "I feel like it's my birthday or something."

She giggled and shook her head, playing with a few strands of his hair. "Nope... just thought you deserved a, um... nice day at the office. And I remembered one time you said something about wanting to try roleplaying, so..."

"You remembered that, huh?" he smiled.

"Yep. And I don't ever want you to get bored with me, so -"

He gave her a _look_ that shut her right up. "Summer," he noted lowly, "you're a lot of things. But boring will _never_ be one of them."

She blushed and gave a small shrug. "Well... I just... thought it was time for something new. And I figured roleplaying was a good option, since the only other thing I could come up with was... something a little... um... less... private."

He raised an eyebrow. "Less private?"

"... Sort of."

"... Sex in public?"

"No," she giggled. "Um... well, I just had this... passing thought of... uh... since you and Loki joke all the time about... a foursome..."

His eyes lit up with understanding. " _Oh_."

"Yeah," she blushed, suddenly having a hard time looking him in the eye. "But I don't know if you would ever _actually_ want to do it, or if they would either, plus I didn't have the guts to actually ask about it, so -"

"Summer," he chuckled, "I already talked to Loki about it _months_ ago."

She blinked in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah," he said, one corner of his mouth curled in a lopsided grin.

"Like... talked about it _seriously_ , or..."

"We went over hypothetical ground rules," Bucky replied casually. "Talked about where we'd do it and how it might happen."

"... So they'd actually want to do it?!" Summer nearly gaped, for some reason finding that fact to be particularly astounding.

"Aemilia's the one who got the conversation started. She told him to talk to me about it and... figure things out from there."

Head spinning, Summer opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally managing, "But why didn't anyone talk to me about it?"

"Well... we were talking about making it a surprise for your next birthday," Bucky admitted. "Although I guess I kinda... ruined that just now, but..."

"... Oh." Summer suddenly gulped and felt as if the room had grown very hot, despite the fact that she was still _very_ naked. "Um... yeah, I... I wouldn't... say no to getting that for my birthday. Or... any day, really."

"That's what I thought," Bucky grinned. "Think you can pretend to be surprised when it happens?"

"... Well, I mean, either way I'm just gonna stand there and become an actual tomato who can't speak, so... probably?"

"Good," he grinned. "If we get approved for the apartment in their building, all we'll have to do is walk up to their room after your party and then... start the real party."

"Oh my God," she groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I can't believe this is actually gonna happen. I'm gonna die."

"Probably," he chuckled, watching her flail. "But in the good way."

She dropped her hands from her face with a groan and then smiled shyly at him. "You know, you're _perfect_ , you know that? Like... how in the world did I end up with someone who gets me like you do and is into _all_ the same things that I am? Like... even the more embarrassing things."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetheart," he told her softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You're perfect the way you are. Kinks and all."

She cringed a little but smiled anyway, her embarrassment melting away when he leaned closer and kissed her. The sweet, gentle press of his lips calming her nerves a little bit, her mind began to wander and when they broke for air, Summer sighed, "Man, how the heck am I gonna come up with something for _your_ next birthday now? Like how the frick do I top _that_?"

"I don't know," Bucky smiled, "but I can't wait to see what you come up with. Besides, I'll be happy with anything as long as it ends with you naked in my bed."

She smiled back and then raised an eyebrow. "What about naked on your desk? Or naked on top of you in your chair?" She paused. "... Naked in your car, maybe? Naked on your dinner table? Or what about -"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," he chuckled, kissing her again. "I'm happy as long as you're naked, period."

"I thought so," she giggled before capturing his lips again. She felt like she could kiss him forever, and the best part of all was the fact that she knew he felt the same. Being so completely connected and in sync with another person was so special and rare, and she didn't take a moment of it for granted.

"I can't wait to marry you," he told her quietly when they pulled apart, murmuring the sweet words against her lips.

"Me either," she replied, smiling brightly enough to light the whole room. "I love you."

"I love you more," he replied, making her smile and shake her head before they kissed one more time.

With Bucky by her side, Summer felt like she could do anything - even take on a completely false identity and waltz into his office in a killer outfit to give him the ride of his life. He pushed her in ways that she loved and needed while at the same time pulling her back into her comfort zone when she needed it and giving her everything she could possibly want. He was still her best friend in every sense of the term, and now he was also the love of her life and her perfect partner in crime. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man and more, and sometimes she had to pinch herself to make sure it was all real and not some crazy _Inception_ -esque dream.

"By the way," he said just before they managed to force themselves to finally get up out of the chair and get dressed, "I liked the t-shirt."

"I thought so," she grinned. "That's still one of my favorite memories, you know. You singing to me in that bar."

He chuckled and nodded, recalling that particular night. "Yeah... and yet you still didn't get it. Maybe I should have sang _Cherry Pie_ instead. Would have been even less subtle."

"... I still would have convinced myself that you were just singing about one of your favorite desserts."

He smirked at her a bit devilishly. "I _would_ have been."

She laughed and playfully slapped his shoulder. She loved this ridiculous, filthy, beautiful man, and she couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life with him. She also now _really_ couldn't wait until her next birthday, and that was entirely his fault. She just had to figure out how the heck to appear even remotely surprised when it finally happened.

But there were certainly worse problems to have in life. All in all, she was pretty sure that she was the luckiest girl on the planet, and she was going to enjoy every last minute of the crazy ride in her future.

After all... who _wouldn't_?

 **A/N: aaaaaand that's a wrap on this story :) I have to say, writing this epilogue was incredibly fun and also a bit terrifying, since I, ah... went some places that were a bit new for myself personally lol, and I hope it didn't put off too many of you (you can all probably guess what I'm referring to lol). I hope this is a satisfying end to this story (insert pun here) and I thank you guys SO MUCH for reading and following and reviewing. The response to this story has been amazing and I'm incredibly grateful. My huge, huge thanks also to midnightwings96 who, as always, is amazing and irreplaceable and without whom I would likely never finish even a short 6 chapter story. Again, my huge thanks to each and every person who read this story, I love you, and drop me a review and let me know what you think! :D**


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